Here’s how it looks
to reason with the bucks
about eating from a garden.
. . .
..
.
July 13, 2012
Summer felt
Posted by Scott under Mammals | Tags: antler, deer, felt, garden, nature, Odocoileus virginianus, pennsylvania, rack, white tailed |[43] Comments
July 31, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Scott, your photos are magnificent. But, as an avid gardener and someone who’s been through Lyme disease, I have to say I really can’t stand these hoofed vermin. The deer population has gotten out of control here in Chester county. This winter was reasonably mild and I’ve seen too many does with a two fawn litter. They come up to our property from the creek and do tremendous damage. Even the dog no longer scares them. I think they exceed fifty deer per square mile here. A healthy population is four to ten per square mile. It’s frustrating to have so many around. Sorry for the rant.
August 1, 2012 at 9:27 am
No argument here, Nick. Nearby Swarthmore College culled 37 deer in the Crum Woods back in winter 2010. Any control efforts under way up there in Chester County?
http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2010/02/03/deer-cull/
August 1, 2012 at 9:55 am
None that I am aware of, Scott. I have a dilemma, as I have some ethical issues over hunting, but something has to be done. Our woods are almost exclusively ash trees. This year the emerald ash borer was found in Bucks co. It’s only a matter of time until it heads south to Chester. When all the ash trees are gone, there’s nothing (native) left to replace them. The deer have eaten everything. It makes me wonder which will die out first, our ash forrest, or all the deer from chronic wasting disease, if there numbers continue to increase. I guess every little piece of paradise has its issues.
July 31, 2012 at 7:35 am
Oh! How beautiful!
July 31, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Yeah … and hungry!
July 29, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Beautiful pictures! Keep on blogging*
July 29, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Thanks, Blenda. That’s the plan …
July 21, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Sweet photos of your garden-nibbler, Scott. Thanks for sharing!
July 23, 2012 at 9:01 am
Thanks, Kathleen. My pleasure!
July 20, 2012 at 8:15 am
These pictures are stunning. This brought back more wonderful memories… my father used to take us to a ‘deer farm’ where a variety of different types of deer were kept. We could feed them, pet them, it was amazing. I remember touching the velvet on their antlers and being reminded that when they are in velvet they are sensitive. Loved these pictures!!! 🙂
July 20, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Terrific memory. I don’t think I’ve ever touched the velvet (but I know a nearby farm where maybe I could — thanks for the idea). I was wondering how the rounded tips felt where later we’ll see the pointed antlers.
July 17, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Reblogged this on carrie piccard and commented:
Check out these beautiful photos of a buck in our very own Little Crum Creek Park!
July 18, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Thanks for sharing with your readers Carrie (so cool to reblogged)!
Of course, Swarthmore is crawling with deer, and I’m sure these two bucks are no strangers to LCC Park. But, just here, they happened to be downstream from Swarthmore. (Close enough, right?)
July 19, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Close enough for me! I still can’t believe how close you got! We are so lucky to live in a place that still has a little magic left in it!
July 16, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Scott…milkweed needs sun..here is some info from Monarch Watch which I belong to.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm
July 16, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Thanks Michelle!
July 16, 2012 at 6:52 am
I guess I’m glad I’m no the only one with deer in my garden. It’s hard to dislike them much with those eyes. Good luck & nice shots!
July 16, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Those eyes, those antlers, those ears … so much to like. And, hey, they gotta eat too, right? Thanks, Lesley.
July 16, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Yes they need to eat too….*sigh* I went ahead and planted some extra cucumber plants just for them. (aka: or I wasn’t getting any.)
July 15, 2012 at 11:44 pm
Wonderful shots. Love the way their eyes are framed by the trees.
July 16, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Thanks. Our eyes locked & didn’t break till the big one ran.
July 15, 2012 at 9:37 pm
great photos.
July 16, 2012 at 4:41 pm
thank you.
July 15, 2012 at 9:06 pm
I dunno about this “reasoning with deer” thing. The only character I know of who gets anywhere with them is the dog. They find him very convincing. Therefore, my being such a reasonable sort, I trained him not to chase them. But he is allowed to bark.
July 16, 2012 at 4:41 pm
They do seem to exhibit an air of defiance sometimes when I try to edify them. I might try barking myself.
July 14, 2012 at 11:10 pm
What a handsome animal- I appreciate having these ‘a meeting of 2 worlds’ moments.
July 20, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Me too. It’s amazing how different the meetings are without a fence or other mitigating distance between us. One starts to feel a bit more instinctive, more attuned, more animal than usual, don’t you think?
July 14, 2012 at 7:48 pm
The bigger one is probably the same buck we saw a few seasons back when we were trying to identify the tree in the yard. I think I have pictures of it.
July 14, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Reuben thinks it’s a possibility. Think you could tell by the pictures?
July 14, 2012 at 12:21 pm
You are being watched….Michelle
July 14, 2012 at 6:44 pm
I get that feeling sometimes.
July 14, 2012 at 11:13 am
Great framing of menacing-looking antlers in first pic. Yikes!
July 14, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Thanks, that’s a good-sized rack around these parts. Glad I had the high ground.
July 14, 2012 at 8:52 am
I can imagine the excitement you felt upon seeing a deer so close. It’s a rare and amazing thing.
July 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Exchanging intent gazes with a large animal at short range ushers in a whole other kind of engagement it seems. Mind focuses, senses heighten, toes balance between fight & flight, and then reasoned experience reminds you to raise the camera.
July 14, 2012 at 12:39 am
How did you manage to get so close to the deer? I recently saw a female deer with her doe in my backyard. The doe was nursing while the mother licked her. Unfortunately, I was only able to take a cell phone picture.
July 14, 2012 at 1:09 pm
That’s a beautiful sight to behold, Carol. Did you happen to catch my post of a similar scene? If not, here’s a link:
https://littlecrumcreek.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/another-summers-fawn/
But, here in this post, it was the deer who approached me. I was already crouched in the pokeweed when they arrived, driven up stream I think by the sound of kids playing nearby.
July 13, 2012 at 11:21 pm
This one is not interested in the pokeweed I guess. Great shot of the antlers, they really are furry like staghorn Sumac. From my understanding the deer are nocturnal animals, so to see one in broad daylight signifies a problem.
July 14, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Little Crum Creek is squeezed on both sides by development, and the thin corridor of “woodland” on both sides might only total maybe 30, 40, 75 feet wide. That leaves little room for rest where lawn mowers run, kids roam, and bloggers lurk. So we are accustomed to seeing deer roused at any time of day. But, for sure, their prime hours are in the evenings when they spill onto neighborhood lawns and streets. They don’t seem to bother with the pokeweed at all. Too bad they don’t go for the Japanese knotweed either. It’s amazing what conditions they can thrive in.
July 13, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Whew! I felt like I had to jump in there and pull you back to a safer, saner spot. How much real estate separated you? Long lens? Very nice images.
Jeff
July 13, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Thanks Jeff — I was squatting on the hill angling for a shot of ducklings when I heard the bucks crunching stones in the creek. At about twenty feet away, I made myself seen and sternly reasoned about what they could and couldn’t eat, snapping some shots with my little Canon PowerShot to let em know I know who they are.
July 13, 2012 at 5:29 pm
Here’s looking at you kid. Looks like a standoff.So neat.
July 13, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Yep. That’s just what it was. Me standing between the deer & the summersweet, heart pounding over meeting the big buck. But it was the young one that started snorting.