New neighbors meet

[HollyS]

Date: 2/1/2008 2:02:24 AM
Author: Addlepated
I live in the same general metro area as Holly, but I definitely don''t have the warm and fuzzy feelings about the hoofed rats that terrorize our neighborhood. I''ve had deer kill trees by rubbing on them, attack my terminally-ill dog 5 feet from my front door, eat all my tomatoes and figs, and strip every last green leaf off my shrubs. At our old house, the woman across the street used to spread a bucket of corn for them to browse every night, which is a horrible idea for both people driving as well as the health of the deer (can cause dependence, overpopulation, nutritional imbalances, and improperly raised corn can have deadly fungus that can kill other wildlife).

But at least venison is tasty.

Ha! Spoken like a true Texan! We worry about the overpopulation ourselves, and we don''t feed them. They won''t usually bother native plants, but they love to feast on a garden. Only one of our shrubs is leaf nibbled from ground up about 3 feet; the rest of our yard must not be too tasty. Our older friend, who does feed them, has several acres of pasture, so he is not really contributing to the danger of deer in the road; he started this to keep them out of his garden and it worked. Deer can damage trees by rubbing them as they shed the ''velvet'' on their antlers; that''s just mother nature and there isn''t much you can do about it. Attacking your dog was a terrible thing, but they are ''wildlife''. We are very careful not to get too close or appear in any way to be a threat to them; you never know what a wild animal will do instinctively to protect itself. That''s one of the reasons we never walk the neighborhood after dark when they are roaming about. And, under no circumstances, would I every have an indoor/outdoor cat in that area because of the wild animals. I think we have just as many hawks and buzzards, not to mention the occasional coyote. A cat would be a tasty meal to them. Just like deer to us!

 

[Addlepated]

During the rut last fall, I saw a buck stalking a lady jogging at dusk.

We hear packs of coyotes nearby regularly. There are also a lot of "Lost Cat" posters taped on the stopsigns.

The attacker was a mama doe who had just given birth. She had the baby bedded down in our flowerbed. It was the size of a kitten! That was sorta cute, but the big bruise she gave the dog (that ended up getting really infected and painful) wasn''t cute at all. Poor old fella.

Your neighbor on the acreage feeding ''em doesn''t sound so bad... the lady in our neighborhood used to dump the corn on the corner of an intersection with poor visibility and a big hill right next to it. Not sure just what she was thinking.

But yeah, I consider deer on the same animal social strata as pigeons, squirrels, raccoons, and possums. Pests!