In five years living in our current home, there has not been a single occurrence of any of the numerous, and often misbehaving, white-tailed deer of the neighborhood jumping the short fence that encloses the upper half of our backyard. I had gotten so convinced that we would never see a deer in this area that I put more deer-palate-friendly woody plants in this part of the yard and only have minimal protection against rabbits. The absence of deer from this enclosed portion of the yard, I suspect, is due to the relatively small area and closeness to the house. The fence is short and is an easy hop for the average deer.
About two weeks ago our new guest, Bucky, arrived. I had first seen Bucky early one morning as I was leaving the house for a walk. He was standing in the yard, very close to the side of our house. I hadn’t given it too much thought, but upon returning about an hour or so later, he hadn’t moved. As I got closer to the house, I guess I got a bit too close for his liking and he began to walk away. Then I noticed he had a very injured front leg. The leg, dangling and disjointed, was obviously of little use and Bucky was hesitant to put any weight at all on the appendage. He was able to move far enough that I eventually lost sight of him and I figured if I ever saw him again, he would probably be deceased somewhere in the neighborhood.
A few days later as I was sleeping in during my holiday break, Sarah rudely woke me up and told me to look out the blinds. There was a buck lying down, damn near touching the edge of our screen porch inside the fenced area of our backyard! Well, I was concerned and perturbed and I went outside as fast as I could to persuade this brute to move on. Upon watching him get up and start moving, I discovered it was the deer I had seen several days earlier – Bucky! I stood in disbelief as this prime, but severely injured deer leaped over the fence with only three working legs.
Moving this story along, Bucky has now been a regular visitor inside my fenced fortification. We do not see him every day, but he often arrives during the night to take his usual sleeping spot. By the looks of what he’s been dropping in the yard, he even seems to be getting plenty to eat. I imagine he might be using this spot to escape other large bucks in the area and potentially coyotes that I have heard in the neighborhood. I have sprayed my tasty woodies with deer repellent to dissuade him from nibbling but he has destroyed a couple of tree enclosures and has damaged, now for the forth time since planting, my poor nannyberry. Despite this, we have decided to let him squat. It’s a relatively secure spot for him to attempt to recuperate and he can access my lower bird feeder to get a little bite now and then. Hopefully in return, he can do me the favor of dropping those antlers in the yard.
Time will tell whether Bucky will get back on his feet or not. He’ll definitely have to be tough to get through the weather we are having currently. It has been two days since we last saw him. If I find out anything else about his fortune, I’ll be sure to update here.
-OZB
January 10th update.
Bucky returned last night after not being seen for four days. Unfortunately I wasn’t paying attention as I fed the birds and by the time I noticed he had already stood up from his bedding area. I went and grabbed the camera and got some shots as he shook off some snow and did a little grooming. He then jumped the fence to make his daily rounds.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 