Garden foes, but aren't they gorgeous? A dear deer family :)

Took this in my front yard yesterday. Aren't they beautiful? There were about 4 more in the bushes but these posed just like a real family.

And a very good chance they are 'family', Ladyborg ...

Not uncommon for the big sisters (in particular) of the Momma's prior off-spring to stay around 'momma' a spell, and help out ... with the younger siblings. We've also witnessed the prior 'sons' (a spike) will try to stay in the vicinity .. but aren't right up in the family group. Harmones buggin' em a bit, to cut the apron strings .. but they're not quite ready to do so completely yet! (hee)

Yes ma'am .. they are beautiful !!

A wonderful photo op they provided you .. and you've done them a great justice, in a terrific capture with your camera!

- Magpye

Yup, Looks a Mama, a fawn and a yearling, definitely family.

Looks like these "lily eaters" are nice and healthy. They are a beautiful animal. Great picture. Oct is bow season in Michigan. I try real hard to get my revenge, but end up just watching the magnificent animals and the bow stays right on my lap as they walk away. I get to see them up close in a blind and it is great to watch them interact with each other.
For all you anti-hunters, I only take the mean ones out of the herd.

Cparts, agree with the hunting. Lately I might become a hunter myself, they are pretty but are driving me crazy eating my roses and vegetables!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladyborg,
I have a neighbor who has rose bushes. She watches the mama deer walking over and getting one of her prize roses, chewing a little, then spits it out on the ground. She is showing her little ones what to eat, which is everything!!!!! Around here you either do without, or cover everything with ugly netting, or spray nasty stuff around. One neighbor had the deer on their deck eating the potted plants. I see them in my bird feeder too. We have a pretty large wooded and swamp parcel that borders a river and swampy end of lake and borders a good size county recreation area. This is great habitat for deer. But instead of dealing with the bears, coyotes, and bobcats, they hang around the houses and eat the flowers and fruits of our labor. My husband says that lily fed tastes better than the deer that eat swamp cedars. They are not even scared of our big dog. The only thing that does scare them is opening day. I won't see another deer until Dec 1st.

How cute ! Maybe they heard about the DG photo contest ?

Ladyborg: Great Photo!

Y'all could Shoo some of those beautiful creatures down to Florida .... I'd plant enough for everybody! LOL. We don't see deer in the city .... but, on occasion we see a few out in the country, and especially on the sides of the Interstate at night! Oh .... what I would give to live in the country!

Lin

Here is my own favorite future "lily eater" picture. I figure this little guy was about a day old when I nearly stumbled over him walking through the cedar swamp. I checked later in the day and his mama had moved him, so he was ok. Notice how he blends with his enviorment. Usually the fawns lay with eyes tightly closed and hide their heads. This one made for a good photo opt. The picture was taken the end of May a couple years ago, but I still thought I would share it.

Cparts: That is so Precious!

Reminds me of last year when we were on vacation in the Smokey Mountains .... took some photo's of deer and remember seeing one Doe laying in the woods like that. She wasn't a fawn though, but a full grown Doe. We wondered why she was just lying there ... other's were feeding nearby, so we figured she maybe just was resting.

Lin

Cparts, "lily fed tastes better" ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RE the pic, looks almost like one I took this summer. I'm on laptop so I can't post it, will later. I saw him being sniffed by 2 dogs practically bigger than him. They were probably confused, I hear the babies are both without any scent to them so the predators can't find him I guess. So I shooed the dogs away and ran to get my camera. I called wildlife rescue, they told me NOT to touch it or the mama wouldn't come near it later, and that she was gone to get food and would be back. Later I checked on it and indeed it was gone.

Glad you called for advice and left it alone. Most people don't. You are right, they don't have any scent. I am surprised the dogs found it. I had 3 dogs with me and some other friends and the dogs went right past this one. Most fawns are born within a few days of each other. This also protects them as predators can't eat them all. About 50% of fawns in Michigan never make it to adult. I did see a very healthy number of twins this year. They make me angry when I see the yard loaded with nice fat ready to burst open lily buds one day and just stalks the next day, but I like seeing the deer around in the woods, where they belong.

I found they didn't eat my yellow daffodils, just walked right past them.

You are right. They do not like Irises in any color or scent either. What gets me about the lilies is that they walk right by them too until they get nice and juicy. Sometimes they let one or 2 bloom, just to give you hope that that new soap mixture, cut human hair scatter, or dried blood is working, then Bam, all are gone. My poor hostas I had ok for 2 years, then the last 2 years they wait until it gets pretty, then all I have left is what looks like celry stalks, poor plant tried to come back 2 times and was chomped over and over just when it was getting going. But I would still love the beautiful day lillies!

They don't touch my gorgeous Amaryllis either.

oooooh, nice.
I can make them bloom once, maybe, after that no matter what I do I get beautiful leaves and no flowers. I just am not that good with plants. I do keep a nice hibiscus on a very high steep deck and the deer cannot get it. that does pretty well if I water it alot. I take it inside and it blooms all winter. They must be a pretty tough plant, those are the only kind that make it around me.

Cparts, I can send you some seeds with instructions on germinating. They are easy. The ONLY plants I kept alive before my thumb turned from black to green :o)

BTW, here's that deer pic.:

Wow, the pictures are realy alot alike, and yours looks like a button buck too. I am not too good at seed, but I could try some. I will contact you with infor. Thanks for the picture and the advise.

The seeds are easy, just throw them in a flowerbed if you like. I can send enough for both that and sowing in a pot.

Anyone else who's interested, send me a d-mail, I have plenty.

I think you can leave yours out all year round. We have to "force" them inside in the winter, but ok, in the late spring and summer. here is a picture of our swamp and weather like today.

Oh, I have snow envy...................I used to live in Canada and MAN do I miss the snow and the beautiful fall weather there! Of course, now that I am a gardener, I am thankful for the weather in TX as it means I get to garden year-round! Also, I would HATE to have to dig up all my bulbs before winter!

I love the snow too. I just don't plant anything that I have to dig up, this and what the deer don't eat limits my gardening to potted plants on the deck, or natural wildflowers that I love. Fall is my favorite time too. I love the 60' weather, the leaves on the ground and the smell in the air. In the spring we have lots of mud, but the wildflowers are so beautiful. I seem to find new ones growing every year. I think the weather has a lot to do with what does well. It is hard to believe that things like lady slippers can grow wild in the woods in our climate. They are exquisite.

As Guy Sternberg says "Deer are beautiful majestic creatures...every county should have one".

Levilyla--great quote! May I add one for every freezer as well as every county? They are indeed beautiful, and I was actually gladdened to see a 3 year old piebald buck last night that I hadn't spotted since the fall. The damage is horrific though, and gets worse each year. Never say never cpartschick, especially when it comes to deer. While casually dining on my ice pansies this week, the blasted creatures decided that iris aren't such bad fare after all. My white German bearded are down to 1/2 inch nubs in my moon garden and the raised beds in a fenced area that hold 20 years worth of collecting, including some from my Grandma's garden of more than 40 years ago, are trimmed to a random MESS.
I never thought I could actually hate an animal, but I'm sure getting close. :-(

I still don't hate them because it isn't their fault...we are taking over their territory.

They do eat whatever is availible. I see them change eatting habits every year. I do love to see them though. They are so beautiful, (and they taste so good). I heard that liquid fence does work quite well. I do not want to discourage their treck into our woods and area as I do love to hunt them. Hunt is a good word. I spent 305 hours and 3 seasons and only took one deer this year. I saw about 100, about 30 I knew were different. There were at least 5 different button bucks alone. There were a group of very large dry does that I was trying to cull. They were very aggressive and very hard to get into my sights. I got one and my husband and a friend took one each. There was much meat on these, as much as 2 normal deer. I am sure they ate alot. I was having a hard time getting them to come in and almost put out a bunch of fake lillies to lure them.

I agree...we had a service of bow hunters to come and "harvest" and they never got one on our property. I don't know what the answer is but killing one or two or even 20 out of a herd of 250-300 doesn't cut it. Birth control pills?

You are right levilyla, the current hunting programs are proving to be unsuccessful at population control.

Our problem here is old hunters that do not want to take does. They are giving out many doe permits and it is lovering the herd. This causes more problems with deer being harder to be seen during season and hunters yelling about that. They want to see deer every time they go out. When we have a hard winter, we loose many young deer. We also have bobcat, coyote, etc that eat deer. Yes, a bob cat can take down a healthy deer. Seen it with my own eyes, not the actual feat, but found a deer covered with leaves in the snow, bobcat tracks all over and a gash in the neck and front organs eatten. The coyotes eat from the back first. You can tell this deer looked healthy and was a fresh kill. amazing. I have also seen what coyote do to deer, and even after finding fresh, it is hard to tell if the deer had been injured first. They do a number on a full size deer quickly.
Ok, got off track, what I wanted to say is that I believe the reason we now have so many unbred does is becuase of youth season. A couple years ago, they started a weekend very early for kids to hunt. This leads to many bucks killed before breeding season starts. I see the difference in the heard. Now you have large dominate does eatting everything in sight and stompping on the smaller ones who even come near food. I find clumps of hair by food all the time. I have also seen fighting, grunting does, and does mimicing bucks. It is amazing. I know our area is lowering the deer population pretty well. I believe it is due to extended seasons and doe permits.
I am surprized your bow hunters did not do well. Was it just a short time they had to get rid of the deer? Is it because it is a populated area they were using bows? You have to get pretty close to kill a deer with a bow. Guns work alot better.

Yes...guns are not allowed here (I think) because of the close proximity of a park.

Wish you well. I sure know the damage they do, but they still are beautiful creatures when they aren't eatting your flowers or on the hood of a car!

They are gorgeous, but I had almost no roses or vegetables last year because of them!

I read a recent Texas Gardening article about how the shock wires work well with them IF you put one at 30" and one at 15" otherwise they go under the tall ones. Plus, they also recommended you put some tin foil strips on the wire (just a few for bait) so they can get shocked that way.

Hubby found this solar one online today, I can't wait to try it! It's solar powered:
http://www.mightypets.com/product.asp?3=699

Lu

My sister-in-law used the solar powered fence and worked quite well. I planted my flowers all over, naturalizing, and naturally the deer grazed in a natural way. All the neighbors have hideous fences and netting all over. I have a fence around a tree my mother gave me, but that is it.
I have no roses, I tend to freeze them over the winter, but a neighbor who is quite the gardener (fencer) says the deer do not eat the roses, they just nip them off and spit them out. This makes her double mad. My poor lillies keep trying to bloom and the hostas.....oh, boy, it is determined to come up after chewing to nubs 3 or 4 times a summer. I see tracks in the snow, where my flowers are, looks like they are just checking!

Has anyone tried the deer proofing system that emits a cougar call to keep them away? I'm curious as to whether or not this really works.
http://www.freewebs.com/walnut_creek_enterprises/phantominfo.htm

Scared to use a cougar call in this area, there have been cougar sightings. I would rather have the deer.
I also heard that dogs keep deer away, yet our big lab is no problem for them. He will chase them a very short distance sometimes, but other times they just look at him, and he looks at us for advice and permission to chase, that never comes. We let him run in the woods as we walk every day, including hunting season, and have no problem seeing deer. (we do have him on a leash during hunting season) but let me tell you, he surely leaves his scent. There are also many coyote and some bobcat in the area, and that doesn't stop the deer either. Ahhhh, the deer were here first, so I live with them and sacrifice my lillies, and garden and trees.....and freezer space.

Labs and other retrievers, in general, are bred to not harm the wildlife, just retrieve them. The company that makes the cougar call devide says it keeps the younger cougars away too. They didn't mention anything about older cougars, although in theory the older ones aleady have their territories staked out in the woods etc and don't need to come "into town".

Interesting isn't it. There is big money into keeping deer away from flowers. If we could find an easy way we'd be rich!!!

Well shoot! I was going to get a couple of rescued labs (www.petfinder.com) for my acreage when I get a fence!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not much of deer protection though eh?!?

Lu

Well, my boy is quite the retriever all right, anything he brings back is dead, possum, coon, squirrel, mice, and the worst of all a baby porcupine. He is smart enough now to stay away from the big ones, but this little one, with it's nice teeny weeny needles, he didn't know, until his mouth was full. Hundreds of them, alot under the tongue, on a Sunday....that was not a good afternoon!!!!
Anyway, I think deer are scared of all dogs, esp big ones. But they can get used to them if they are around alot and don't get chased. I am not sure a deer can tell a lab from a coyote, and they are very afraid of them, for good reason.