Posted on 03/06/2015 4:21:54 PM PST by SJackson
My husband used to hunt on the Wisconsin side of the UP. After the DNR introduced wolves, the deer population plummeted. He hunts in MOnow.
“In my yard, they are nibbling on shrubs that are guaranteed to be unatractive to deer, but I haven’t seen them devouring creatures — yet.”
We have the same problem here. In the past year or so, our local deer have been eating ivy, azaelas, manzenita, and natural shrubs that have been growing here for decades/centuries.
We had some pine trees in our yard, cut down before they fell down. Our yard man recommended a Meyer Lemon Tree and an edible Orange tree to replace the feral pine trees. We are afraid that the expensive citrus trees might become organic deer scat if we plant them.
“My husband used to hunt on the Wisconsin side of the UP. After the DNR introduced wolves, the deer population plummeted.”
About twenty years ago we had a mountain lion in our area. For the 6 plus years he was hunting venison in our area, the deer didn’t cause a problem.
We apparently have one or two bobcats keeping the wild turkey population in check. A large flock of wild turkeys can be as devastating to a yard or vineyard as wild feral hogs.
It seems they like fish?
They will only eat what they can reach. You can protect the trees when they are little with wire cages. After the trees are taller than the deer, it’s no problem unless a buck decides to use your tree to rub his antlers! They can make quite a wound in the trunk, but a little tree patch will fix that.
I opened the shades in my family room the other day to be surprised by 4 deer in my little clump of forsythia. Deer aren’t supposed to like forsythia, but there they were, nibbling all along the lower branches. Now I know why I’ve only gotten flowers on the top ov those bushes the last 3 years. They were actually eating weeds that were poking above the snow. I watched them all afternoon — I had 9 of them out there eventually.
“For years, elk and other large herbivores had free reign over the land, as there were no large dogs to keep their numbers in check.”
Shoot the wolves and allow limited elk hunting in Yellowstone, problem solved. Wolves don’t belong anywhere near human settlements. There was a reason we killed them off in the lower 48 100 years ago!
For the past 3 weeks I’ve had 6 deer staying in my yard eating my bushes around the house, they never leave the yard, even to sleep!
They ate the entire spice garden right down to the roots, and all of the flowers. They have stripped my hedges of all the leaves, they are a mess.
Deep snow has been on the ground for two months and now it is crusted with ice. I’ve never had deer eating my bushes before. They are damn hungry this year.
My pet groundhog loved pepperoni-Italian sausage pizza and lasagna.
Problem is, if they have developed a liking for something, they’ll be back for it regardless of other food sources. It happens a lot where critters uneventfully coexist and then suddenly eat down to nothing things they used to ignore.
I’ve seen gray squirrels eating frogs
Did they surrender?
I guess they did!
“After the trees are taller than the deer, it’s no problem unless a buck decides to use your tree to rub his antlers! They can make quite a wound in the trunk, but a little tree patch will fix that.”
Unfortunately, our Alpha Buck likes to use our trees for his yearly rubs.
His ancestor did such a good job of picking cherries off one tree, we didn’t realize that the tree had cherries on it until it grew taller than the buck could stand up on its rear legs and pick the cherries. Then, he and his Beta bucks would ram the tree to shake the cherries off it.
Did they spit out the pits?
Your story reminds me of my (late) Golden Retriever. He grew fond of my cherry tomatoes. At first he’d wait until I threw him one. But, then he figured out that he could bump the urn where they were planted, or wag his tail enthusiastically, and the ripe ones would shower down on him where he could eat his fill.
“Wolves don’t belong anywhere near human settlements. There was a reason we killed them off in the lower 48 100 years ago!”
They are thinking about reintroducing Grizzly Bears in the Northern Cascade Mountains of Washington State. That should work out well.
Good idea, Oregon should be on the list too. Seattle and Portland are the perfect drop zone for about 100 Grizzle bears each. Scientists can study their growth rate on a steady diet of queers!
Fish, beavers....they give a d@mn. ;p
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.