what a coincidence. was saying goodbye to my roommate (he works nights) and there were 3 of our girls in our front yard. didn't see them most of the summer. did have a wee one born in our back yard this spring. i just love to watch them. they are such a peaceful critter.

You said it perfectly. Peaceful is the right term. Yes, they'll do some damage but not like some other animals. I really enjoy the wildlife around here. Haven't seen any cougars in this area and fortunately this isn't an area that bears will hang around. I'll stick with the deer, pheasants and the like.

They often come calling at my house and immediately start to freeload on the flowers.
Sweet potato vine is a favorite.
They are so skinny this year, My son has fed them corn in a feeder in the back woods all summer, but I think they also want something green.

all winter long, they will come and clean out my bird feeders. i do put apples and carrots and rabbit pellets out for them in the winter, but they seem to love the bird seed.

I walked to the post office last night around 9 pm. On the way back, I saw 4 deer standing in the shadows watching me. It was 3 of this years and one adult.

We have white tails that are larger than deer seen in several other locations.

Weget quite a few here on the farm because people are runniong them out,they eat all my fruit on trees every year.

I love seeing these gentle creatures. I live in the middle of a small town, with the neighbors yard with the back half of the property wooded with underbrush, behind our Apt Bldg. Every hunting season, we see 2-3 deer back there. When the season is over, they are gone. Rather smart, I say.

Warning...A sad deer story...

Unfortunately last week late at night, one of our deer friends met with a car while crossing the road from our yard to the apple trees across the street. We heard the thud and knew what it was. The car didn't stop. The poor thing was lying in the middle of the road, it's legs in a tangle. Dh called 911 for a policeman to come out to put the poor thing out of it's misery. Two cars stopped one on each side of the struggling deer and put their flashers on to alert oncomming traffic. While dh and these two people stood by, a car came speeding up the road, didn't slow down a bit and deliberately ran over the deer and kept on going. Within a few minutes the policeman arrived and it was all over. I am still sickened every time I think of it. These beautiful gentle creatures are fast loosing their homes to urbanization. There is no solution for them.

We used to have herds of them here, now we only see small groups of 3 or 4 at a time and not as many of those as we used to. The insurance lobby is winning in PA and the herds are dwindling. It is so sad.

Gazania, I hope that there is a special place in he!! for that person, such disregard for life just baffles me. We pulled a little mouse out of our pool yesterday morning, I dried him off and took him over by the pool house to let him go away from the cat that had been after him. I just don't get some people.

I am not a huge fan of deer, sorry. After having sustained 3 cars with damage (twice in one day for DH) I think the population is too high and I welcome the yearly hunt. That said, I like seeing them from afar but would prefer they stay out of my yard. I love seeing the little fawns frolicking in the spring, and I hate to see dead deer by the side of the road. But we have way too many deer in my neck of the woods.

I see deer in our yard all year round, love to see them. They are peaceful creatures and quite beautiful. They are curious as well.

Our garden is fenced. ;)

They are destructive vermin where I live, that said nothing should die an ugly death like that (have wrecked two cars myself, the deer died instantly). No worries the numbers that the numbers are dwindling - I see more than I ever have before...

With the heat wave and drought we have had in Texas this summer, we started feeding and watering the deer a couple months ago. 12 or more show up every morning and evening, bucks, doe and fawns, we had to help them survive especially with the water. Gives you a feeling of peace, but we love animals and will do anything to help them.

Linda~

As with anything too much is often bad. When deer are overpopulated, the deer suffer along with other impacts. Around here the population is fairly well controlled.

And I don't understand why people don't use the deer whistles on their cars. I know there's disagreements on whether they work or not but vehicles on which I've had them installed I've seen numerous times where deer ran toward the road, stopped suddenly, then turned and ran the other way. For $5, I'll keep using them. I don't know anyone who has hit a deer who've had them installed on the car. Anecdotal, I know, but still it suggests it's worth putting them on.

What's a deer whistle?

It's a little repeller thing that you mount on the front of your car. Basically a hunk of plastic with holes in it. Supposedly gives out a "whistle" of sorts that deer/wildlife don't like. The air movement through it makes the noise (people don't hear it) although there are electronic ones too. They come in all sorts of shapes and styles, are very small, less than the size of a golf ball and attach with double faced tape or a glue.

Deer whistles don't work. First hand knowledge - they were all the rage for a while around here - but it didn't make any difference.

They don't hurt though - who knows! If it works once for someone - that would be a plus.

That sensation of having a deer in front of you is terrible. I have tried hard to enforce to my young drivers to HIT the deer, not to swerve or brake hard. They need to slow down, but not "lock" the brakes. (Nothing we have locks) Your first instinct is to swerve or stop fast, but that is more dangerous than hitting the deer.

I have had a deer hit me! It ran out and ran into the side of my car!

Huge herds here. I haven't seen it yet this year - but usually see it while I am harvesting. 70+ at a time. It is amazing to see.

I don't know the details of your firsthand "knowledge" so can't comment on it except to say I do believe there could be a difference between the types, as with anything, and common sense says they have to be clean and working properly, *if* they actually work. I can say I have never seen a deer start running toward the road, then turn tail and run back down the ditch when I've been in a vehicle without them installed. I *have* seen it dozens of times in vehicles with them. Not scientific, I know, but then again nobody has yet been able to explain the coincidence either.