I am The Deer Whisperer

[gipper]

Believe it or not, NONE! They go in the woods, I guess? Not even under all my different wild apple trees!

Wow. Those deer must really love you.

 

[Dekster]

I've been here for nearly 15 years now. I've only seen 1 big ass buck, two meadows away. And one baby buck, that had two little nubs on his forehead. That's it! 15 years! All the deer here, usually birth two fawns a year or two, ALWAYS doe.

So I've seen in the 15 year, 20 or so births a year that show up in my yard with their mamas....about 300 fawns....all female but one.

Is this normal? One buck, screwing likely a hundred or two doe around here?

Or are bucks more secretive and hide from humans, kinda like you said....doe are more friendly?

IDK what is normal. I had a pack of 5 running around regular this year always together---a spike buck, 2 does, and 2 little ones but they have split apart recently. Sometimes another doe would show up with 3 little ones. I haven't been able to get a real good picture of it, but over the last few weeks another buck with a funky rack has been coming around. He has about 5 points on one side and a real upright antler. On the other side he may have 2 or 3 nubby points but the antler is more growing flat and toward his back. Kind of weird.

Anyway, deer season is upon us so that always gets them nervious and irregular. Won't be until January until they settle down and I see who is still around. I put out quart bowl of corn (illegally) and whoever eats it, eats it. They also raid the seed from the bird feeders every night.

 

[Care4all]

IDK what is normal. I had a pack of 5 running around regular this year always together---a spike buck, 2 does, and 2 little ones but they have split apart recently. Sometimes another doe would show up with 3 little ones. I haven't been able to get a real good picture of it, but over the last few weeks another buck with a funky rack has been coming around. He has about 5 points on one side and a real upright antler. On the other side he may have 2 or 3 nubby points but the antler is more growing flat and toward his back. Kind of weird.

Anyway, deer season is upon us so that always gets them nervious and irregular. Won't be until January until they settle down and I see who is still around. I put out quart bowl of corn (illegally) and whoever eats it, eats it. They also raid the seed from the bird feeders every night.

During the winter we give them dry corn or some kind of deer food with maple flavor during the winter, they sell at the local hardware store.....

Geez, I don't think it is illegal to feed them corn here???? Gosh, I hope not....

My neighbor across the way owns the meadow there....well, his grand pop owns it....and his grandad would tractor mow it at the end of October every year and gather the hay or tall grass etc, and then gather the whole meadow's worth and stack it for the deer at the edge of the meadow that meets the woods, so the deer would have something to eat over the winter....he passed away last year, so I don't know if his grandson will continue with it....

 

[Dekster]

During the winter we give them dry corn or some kind of deer food with maple flavor during the winter, they sell at the local hardware store.....

Geez, I don't think it is illegal to feed them corn here???? Gosh, I hope not....

My neighbor across the way owns the meadow there....well, his grand pop owns it....and his grandad would tractor mow it at the end of October every year and gather the hay or tall grass etc, and then gather the whole meadow's worth and stack it for the deer at the edge of the meadow that meets the woods, so the deer would have something to eat over the winter....he passed away last year, so I don't know if his grandson will continue with it....

It is illegal in my state to feed deer during hunting season. It is 24/7 illegal in my city to feed any wild animal other than birds and squirrels. To be honest, the animal control people might would be the only ones to ticket you. Regular cops don't give a poot about much in the way of petite crimes.

 

[skye]

They are sweet! Thank you for posting!

 

[Road Runner]

We have packs of Coyotes.... I think they eat deer?

We've got one here as well,.. let me tag her and ask her. Coyote, do you eat deer?

 

[Road Runner]

It is illegal in my state to feed deer during hunting season. It is 24/7 illegal in my city to feed any wild animal other than birds and squirrels. To be honest, the animal control people might would be the only ones to ticket you. Regular cops don't give a poot about much in the way of petite crimes.

It's illegal here to feed deer at all times due to overpopulation. People still do it though and I can't say I blame them. XD Especially when the babies come, they're SO cute.

 

[Dekster]

It's illegal here to feed deer at all times due to overpopulation. People still do it though and I can't say I blame them. XD Especially when the babies come, they're SO cute.

For us the rationale for hunting season is so as not to be baiting the deer into your own kill zone....keep it sporting and all.

As for the wild animal rule in my city, who the hell knows. When they first passed the law there was no specific exemption for birds and squirrels and little old ladies went after city council people. The raccoons and possums come up on my back deck every night just about looking for cat food. The buzzards show up just about every morning looking for cat food. Those stupid birds even will stand there and drink out of the cats' water bowl. I occassionally find a terrapin eating cat food too. At least the ground hogs and rabbits stick to the vegetables. I am not particular about what animals are welcome and what ones are not as long as it isn't a copperhead snake.

 

[Road Runner]

For us the rationale for hunting season is so as not to be baiting the deer into your own kill zone....keep it sporting and all.

As for the wild animal rule in my city, who the hell knows. When they first passed the law there was no specific exemption for birds and squirrels and little old ladies went after city council people. The raccoons and possums come up on my back deck every night just about looking for cat food. The buzzards show up just about every morning looking for cat food. Those stupid birds even will stand there and drink out of the cats' water bowl. I occassionally find a terrapin eating cat food too. At least the ground hogs and rabbits stick to the vegetables. I am not particular about what animals are welcome and what ones are not as long as it isn't a copperhead snake.

Lol I thought that you were going to say that even you occasionally are looking for cat food.

 

[Dekster]

Lol I thought that you were going to say that even you occasionally are looking for cat food.

Funny you say that. One day my brother made him and my dad some tuna salad sandwiches. My mom came home and asked why there was an opened catfood can on the counter. My brother immediately got sick. My dad was "Oh well" and finished his.

 

[Road Runner]

Oh btw, around here people say that they actually aren't feeding the deer,.. they're feeding the birds and squirrels and the deer just happen to show up and eat it (the corn) too.

 

[Coyote]

We've got one here as well,.. let me tag her and ask her. Coyote, do you eat deer?

Yup

 

[Road Runner]

Yup

You bastard,... JK LOL you know I love you. (I used to eat venison as a child myself but I honestly can't remember what it tasted like.)

 

[Coyote]

You bastard,... JK LOL you know I love you. (I used to eat venison as a child myself but I honestly can't remember what it tasted like.)

I love it, it makes the best damn chili! Can’t get it easily anymore as tbe friend I got it from moved away.

 

[Road Runner]

I love it, it makes the best damn chili! Can’t get it easily anymore as tbe friend I got it from moved away.

Ah well I guess I will never know unless I try it. Btw, I figured that this would be the ONLY website where I could get away with cussing at a mod since we're friends and you know that I was only joking anyways. (It's rough around the edges here, but I love the fact that people on here like you actually have a sense of humor.)

 

[Care4all]

Ok, Lady's mama, had two fawns this year too...Lady had two fawns, and Lady mama had two. They hangout together and had been coming to the yard, all together.

I now call Lady's mama, Lady Batman! She has a white Batman symbol on the top of her nose!

Anyway, I am so damn excited!!! Lady Batman's two fawns, have turned in to a baby doe andddddd, drum roll, a button buck!!!! I have a buck!! Out of the gazillion billion baby fawns these deer have had as babies, they've all been females that have hung out here...

He's just so cute! And a wild child!!! I guess since his buttons just showed up a week or two ago, he's about 5 months old....they were almost 3/4s of an inch when he came today....

He's a wild child because he keeps leaving Lady Batman and his sister, to explore on his own....and he runs a lot, mostly in circles around the yard....

Lady Batman and her baby doe have been coming to the kitchen window alone for the past few days.... I was worried that something happened to Buttons.... but today, he came running in to the yard from the side of the woods that butts up to the main road straight to my kitchen window for apples, pushing his sister and mom, out of the way.... Lady Batman wouldn't have it, and raised her leg and hoof and lightly hit him on the top of his back, and he calmed down....she showed him who was still boss and still first, on the apples!

Gosh, I just love it here! I can't believe all I wanted and lived in, was pretty much, the City life, or Suburbia with a semi city life, for 20 to 40 years straight, until the hubby and I decided to get out of Dodge, and try rural life, for a while.....

I got some pics of him, just haven't uploaded them yet!!!

 

[Care4all]

On my gosh!

The hubby and I went to visit my parents and older sister for the winter....December thru April....I worried the whole time about Lady (Batman) the whole time we were away and her two kids.....which I named ....

Rudolph and Clarice!

I still can't believe Lady had a buck!!!!

Anyway, on the drive home we got apples at the store right before getting home, just in case she showed up, with the two kids in tow.... I was anxious to see if the two babies survived and if Rudolph's little button antlers got bigger....

Rudolph and Clarice survived! So did mama Lady, they were at the kitchen window almost right after we got the luggage from the car to the house, praise the Lord!!!!

there was no difference in the antlers, they had not grown any bigger

But Rudolph was taller and bigger than Clarice now...still babies but you could notice a difference in his size vs her size.

Ok, now....

Three months later.....

Rudolph is bigger than Lady, his mom!!!! Holy cow! That happened fast!!! And....drum roll...his Antlers are about 7 inch sticks now!!!!! He is nearly a good foot bigger than Clarice now too...she is still smaller than her mom...

Yes, I've got some pictures on my phone, I just have to figure out how to get them to this thread????

Lady Batman disappeared for about a month and I had only been seeing Rudolph and Clarice coming together to feed but no mama Lady....

I was excited, because last year when Lady went missing in Spring, she showed up with the two spotted fawns, Rudolph and Clarice, about a month later...


Well, holy moly, a miracle and good fortune from God and the native American Spirits....

Lady, has a single fawn, and it is a Piebald!!! This is extremely extremely rare! Her fawn is half white....it's so cute!!! White and brown deer are so rare....this is the first time in n my life, that I've seen one....I didn't even know they existed! I've read that avid hunters can go their entire life, and never get the experience of seeing one!!!

Yes, I've got pics of the fawn too.... I've named it Pinto! I so hope no one kills it when older, as a Trophy Kill!

Rudolf and Clarice, have been separated from Lady....she wouldn't let them near her and this was before I saw her fawn.... They kept separate.....I think lady was just protecting her new fawn at first..

But now they are all back together as a family...this past week or two. I even saw Rudolph alone playing with Pinto in my garden area, while Lady came to the window for apples.....

Clarice is beautiful, white rings around the endearing eyes, just like Lady! She comes to the window alone now, while Rudolf sits back around 15 feet from the window for the apples.

I have a gazillion pictures on my new cell phone that I still do not know how to use.... that go along with my recall of what has happened...

When the hubby wakes up, maybe I can get him to help me, after his coffee....

 

[Care4all]

This is Lady, and her piebald fawn, Pinto!!!

 

[Care4all]

Here are lady, rudolph, and clarice.

Rudolf is bigger in the shoulders and headnow, than clarice...clarice has her mama's Batman winged nose, Rudi doesn't. He only has little buttons where antlers will be. In these pictures their fur has already changed to greyish, for the winter....

 

[Care4all]

And here is Rudolph with Clarice in the woods behind him...

His antlers are about 6 inches or so now, in this pic! He is only 1 yr old and he's a beauty!!! Much larger than his twin sister now!!