We’ve had three white-tailed deer struck by vehicles in the last month on the main road that runs by our property — two on the same night. We live in a rural paradise, I must admit, but along with the relaxation, clean air, twinkling stars, and good soil come all the many deer who also enjoy this wonderland we call home. As beautiful as they are grazing in a field and prancing across a meadow, the many deer in our town unfavorably provide transport for disease-carrying ticks, an enticing meal for coyotes, and unwitting targets for evening drivers.
The deer (Odocoileus virginianus) really are beautiful — from afar and during the day — but bring them near my house or in front of my vehicle at night? No thank you. Those crepuscular ruminants are not so beautiful in my yard eating the flowers I’ve spent so much time planting and nurturing. They are not so beautiful when they drop ticks that carry Lyme disease. They are not so beautiful when their presence encourages coyote to enter my property looking for a nice meal of venison carpaccio or deer steak tartare. They are not so beautiful when they run out in front of vehicles on a dark evening hurting themselves and the drivers of the vehicles and causing thousands of dollars in property damage. I wish I could send them on their merry way to a safer, less exciting habitat, but like many other gardeners, I have to accept their presence and deal with them as best I can.
Our property was practically abandoned for a few years before we bought it, and the deer and other woodland creatures had almost free rein when we got here. The place hadn’t reverted completely back to the wild, but it was definitely heading in that direction. Add to that the neighboring farmer’s corn field on the other side of the road that becomes a free buffet every November when the farmer brings in the harvest, and the result is a significant evening deer crossing situation from autumn until spring.
The deer crossing problem is nothing new. When we first moved here, there was an entire deer skeleton lying along the main road at the edge of our property. We’ve found bones of other deer long passed mingled in the roadside trash we pick up when we do our yearly Earth Day ditch clean. Last year, a deer darted out in the road causing a car to veer into our neighbor’s yard and crash. We’ve found enough car parts left behind from deer collisions we could probably build a whole car and have parts left over.
We really don’t know how to stop the deer from wanting to cross to the corn buffet. Free food is just too tempting. I don’t want anything bad to happen to the deer, but we are at the mercy of nature with trying to manage them. The best we can do is encourage them to take a different path which we are actively trying to do. We have a few plans for guiding them away from our field, but there is really nothing we can do when they are desperate to go into the neighbor’s field.
Ticks and Coyotes
Ticks and coyotes are other significant problems brought to us by our friends the deer. One of our neighbors discovered he had Lyme disease last summer, and we’ve heard of a number of other people in the village who’ve caught it, including a school-age child. Not only do the deer drop the ticks that carry Lyme disease, but we now have a new concern — the Lone Star tick. That particular tick can transmit several diseases including the meat allergy Alpha-gal syndrome. The tick situation is no joke.
Coyotes are also an unwelcome result of our deer population. There is a pack of them living on the farm across the way, and we find evidence of them on a regular basis. They are easy to track. They have large enough paws, and they really don’t care if we know they are here or not. The deer (and other wildlife, to be fair) are easy pickings on our property, and the coyote know it.
In general, I am happy to let wildlife take care of wildlife, but I do have to live here along with my family. I’m not all that thrilled with coming face-to-face with a hungry coyote. Working to move the deer to better pastures will help tremendously with the tick and coyote problems.
Deer Browse
The deer browse on our property is something fierce. There are many plants I would love to see in my garden, but I know there is no use in bringing them here until we come to some agreement with the deer.
Much of our land is forested, and much of the forest is not in the best shape. There are several reasons for this, I’m sure, but a huge consideration is the deer browsing issue. It’s not unheard of to see a half dozen or more deer on the hill behind the house at one time, and we are aware of at least three herds that cross in various places along our field and two or three others based on information we’ve gathered from our neighbors.
A healthy forest has an understory of shrubs, herbaceous plants, and saplings of various ages. While some of our forest has that — sort of — much of our forest has only mature trees. The understory has been completely eaten away. In our attempts to bring the forest back into full health, we know our efforts will be futile until we address the deer situation.
Plans and Considerations
In a future post, I’ll share some of the plans we have to assist the deer in making better choices. I like to be optimistic, but I know deer are notorious nuisances. We will have to do a number of things, and this will be an ongoing and most likely never-ending project. I’m going into this expecting many failures.
Part of the plan is to strategically plant things we know deer don’t like to eat, although we know they will eat anything if they are hungry enough. We will also create barriers and annoyances in certain areas so they leave the places we don’t want them to be and move on to places we don’t mind. We know their paths and their patterns. Now, we just have to get them to move along elsewhere. The deer are truly lovely to watch from afar, but they are a sure mess to have around.
We’ve spent the last two years observing our property through the seasons and planning our gardens. When I first walked the land, I had high hopes and many ideas for all the wonderful plants we could grow and fruits and vegetables we could harvest.
By the end of the first summer, all those grand plans were thrown away when we realized a few fairly important issues we were dealing with on the regular — namely deer, but a couple of other things, too — invasive plants and water — lots and lots of water. So, we decided to sit back and watch the land, the critters, and the weather and slow down our plans in order to see what is really going on here, hoping to make better decisions for our property as a result. In the next two posts, I’ll discuss those other two issues — invasive plants and water.
We love music and history, so we’ve created a playlist of songs from the year our house was built. We call it 1882. To listen, visit the Mædunbroc profile on Spotify. You will be able to “like” the playlist and “follow” our profile, so you can come back to it again and again. 1882 is our first playlist. We are working on playlists for each decade of our house’s life, and we’ll add a few more as our house and farm continue to grow. Access the 1882 playlist here.
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