Posted by Hal/Eastern WA on June 04, 2012 at 13:15:46 from (97.119.244.50):
In Reply to: I HATE DEER!!! posted by philcase on June 04, 2012 at 06:58:24:
I hate them too!!!
They eat almost anything I try to plant unless it is protected by high, tight fencing. Gardening is hopeless without a real good fence; the deer will take everything that is green in August.
Some years ago my wife decided we needed some decoration in our front yard, so she bought 4 whiskey barrels cut in half and planted them with various pretty flowers that she bought. The first year it didn"t go too bad. The deer were very selective about what they ate, and we didn"t plant that anymore. The second year the deer became much less selective, and they ate almost everything besides Marigolds. Now we only plant Marigolds in the barrels, and the deer only nibble on them. Your post amused me, because I have always referred to the whiskey barrels as our "deer salad bar" and thought that was an original idea of mine. Guess not.
My area was rural 40 years ago, and we never had any trouble with deer in our yards or gardens. But since that time, much of the area has been subdivided into parcels from 5 to about 40 acres, and every one of them has a house and family on it. It used to be practical and OK to have a free, loose dog, but now that is illegal, and even worse, a "neighbor", and I use that term loosely, traps loose dogs and calls the animal control. It costs big money to get them back...so most people have their dogs either inside or in fenced yards. So the deer are no longer discouraged from coming around by dogs defending their turf.
Also, with the number of people around, it seems unsafe to most people to shoot high-powered rifles or allow hunters on their property to harvest the deer. I only allow bow hunters, who have had pretty good success. The other problem is that almost all the deer around are does or very young antlerless males, and for most of the hunting seasons, only antlered males are legal to take.
So my area is just about paradise for deer: very little hunting pressure, and various things the deer have found they can get away with eating. At least some of the does have lost much of their fear of humans. I have walked to within about 15 or 20 feet of does in my yard, and only then, would they start walking away. With a sudden move, they would run, but just yelling at them does very little. They just stand there and look at you.
I would guess my area has 10 times the number of whitetail does that it did 40 years ago. I see dead ones along the roads almost every day. It has become absolutely necessary to drive very slowly from before sunset to well after daybreak to avoid colliding with deer. Almost every family has hit at least one, and most collisions result in well over $1000 of damage. The last one my wife hit caused almost $7000 damage, and the insurance company considered totaling the 3 year old car.
I wish I had a good solution to the problems, but none really exists. I think a good start would be to allow the taking of does during any of the hunting seasons, and allowing the use of any reasonable weapon to do it. A crossbow would be effective enough at the distances I would use it, quiet enough to avoid disturbing the neighborhood and safe enough to avoid the danger of hurting someone who might be trespassing on my land. But crossbows are considered the same as rifles. If I liked venison, I think I could take a doe a week all Summer and Fall, and never leave my yard. But I don"t care for that meat, and with the laws like they are, I would very quickly be in lots of expensive trouble if I started shooting them. In my opinion, the situation is really DUMB.
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