|
|
This was the first year I put out food for the
deer. This is a controversial subject in both developed and
non-developed areas. One side of the argument is; that it defeats
natural selection, regardless of the the deer being around humans or
in the wild, in built up areas it may cause them to loose their fear
of man and tend to draw even more deer and subject them to collisons
with things like cars. The other side of the argument is that
feeding helps the herd to stay healthier by helping them through a
particularlly hard winter.
I can add this for last winter. This was the first
year the deer were coming within 20 - 30 feet of the house to not
only graze on the bird feed on the ground under the feeder but also
eating right out of the bird feeder and jumping up and smacking it
with their front feet to spread more on the ground. It was
interesting to watch how they even rationed the deer food I put out.
Instead of eating it all when they came across it, they grazed it
and then moved on, to come back later and finish it.
January 20, 2005
( Click on the picture to see a larger view )
Back Next
Home
|
