Thursday, February 25, 2010

Feeding the deer

I thought I would share this with you because I just found out a couple of veggies that I assume deer do not like.

I have always been crazy wild about animals - every one I can think of I guess. BUT for some reason deer have always held a huge fascination for me. Wherever we are driving, my eyes are scanning the treeline trying to catch site of a deer or two. When I finally get lucky enough to see one, others driving with me would think I have won a small lottery or something. I stop, back up, if I have any food in the car, it's theirs.

Last year, we spotted a deer yard in Rusagonis and every evening I made the trek down with bags full of apples, bread, carrots - whatever I could find. I honestly believe they got to know my car because they didn't leap away from me so quickly as time went on.

This year, I started to put the apples etc. in my back yard for a couple of reasons - standing on the side of the road feeding them was putting them and myself in danger (my yard backs on to a good sized forest therefore making sure they were not crossing the road) and hoping to get a closer, longer look at them while being able to see them feed being the most important one.

I go to Stirlings in Saint John and they actually sell "deer apples" a 20 lb bag for $5.00 I am not sure why they refer to them as "deer apples" but each time I go, they always say to me "you're not going to eat them yourself or cook with them are you"?. I assume they must be apples picked up from the ground after harvest because they have assured me they are safe for the deer to eat.

Anyway, I have been putting the food out for a little over a month, and just keep adding to it, but this morning when I went out, a bit of snow had melted at the very side of the tree (we have large trees out back and one has three or 4 limbs that are widespread at the bottom, making a nice "dish" to set everything in) and very close to the base of the tree sitting there rotting were celery and broccoli - everything else was gone!!!

If you are also into deer feeding, please make sure it is in a safe spot as not to cause undue harm to the deer or people driving past their feeding spot. I make sure there is something fresh there each day for them and unfortunately have not spotted them yet, only their footprints as verification but that's ok. I know sometime in the night, someone is out there having a midnite snack.

Also, don't bother buying the celery and broccoli if it is deer you are trying to attract - spend the money on apples, that seems to be their favourite and we know apples are healthy for them as well.

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