Deer Drama

So… our land, and that of our next door neighbors on either side, host a 3-member family of deer. They regularly walk thru Heron Hold property, and they cause quite the commotion!

They really freaked out the chickens, who had never seen a deer before coming here. Now, only Lavender still screams at the sight of them, but she gets the rooster going with her, and– LE SIGH!

They freaked out the cats, who at least saw them at the Sunrise Red cabin in Piper. Now, the cats are merely fascinated by them, watching them intently from windows in a way that only dogs can compete with! Still, if I see cats suddenly running from window to window, I’ve learned to get up and pay attention, because– deer!

The allure of deer loses some of its power when you keep catching them eating your flowers and trees! They LOVE to eat the leaves of fruit trees, as well as many other human food sources, so I’ll have quite the fencing jobs ahead of me in the future. On the plus side–? They also LOVE to eat dandelions and many other weeds from lawns. Nutrish and delish, y’all!

Today I heard Lavender going off like mad and I went out to check on her, and there were all 3 of the local deer, including the fawn, facing me, less than 20 feet away! They had all gone silent while I bent over and talked to the chicken. They didn’t bolt when I turned to look at them, either! The only way to get the hen to shut up (and, with her, the rooster) was to chase them all to the far side of the yard. They didn’t exactly move away quickly, either.

I watched the young doe with the fawn yesterday, though, and saw her approach our road in front, pause and twitch her tail– and the fawn stopped as well. They waited as a car came and crossed in front of them. Then, the doe twitched her ears, and- satisfied- she crossed with the fawn. It was weird, though. I realized I was watching a mother teach her kid to “look and listen both ways before crossing the street”! They crossed to go to the park, where I’m sure there are plenty more nummy things to chew besides our trees!

Here’s the oldest doe. Brash as can be. Nothing impresses her! Wouldn’t even look at me for a pic, dammit!