We could have fresh venison for dinner

This morning I was busy reloading ammo when Barb came back from a walk and sent me a text message before coming inside:

Two deer on the front yard.

I grabbed my camera bag and headed for the door. Barb opened it just before I got to it. My disappointed face must have been an easy read for her because she said, “They aren’t going anywhere, but I wish they would.” I carefully stepped out on the front steps and took some pictures:

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I came back inside and Barb asked if they were still there. “Yes”, I replied, “Do you want me to make them go away?”

“Yes please. I don’t want them eating my plants.”

“We could have fresh venison for dinner if you wanted.”, I joked.

“No. Just get them out of the yard.”

We went out into the yard and tried shooing them away from 15 or 20 feet away. They weren’t really interested. I had to make some aggressive moves and sounds before they finally moved onto the edge of the street. Two cars drove by and the deer came back onto the edge of the yard.

I clicked my tongue (really loud, I used to find my kids in malls and stores this way because they could hear it some distance away and knew I was looking for them). This was enough incentive for the deer to run down the street a few feet and then walk through the bushes into the neighbors yard.

I came back in the house and reported my results to Barb. “Excellent!”, she exclaimed, “I was afraid they would run at me if I tried to get them to leave.”

While it’s not all that unusual to see a deer or two when we go for a walk near the park, I don’t recall seeing any deer on our street before. It’s not like we live in some rural area. This is a normal suburban neighborhood with houses all around:

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Oh well, I thought it was nice to have the visitors even if I don’t think Barb wasn’t quite as pleased about it as I was.

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9 thoughts on “We could have fresh venison for dinner

  1. Here in my town, we get mule deer almost daily. The town has its own small herd. Not really good for them, they crowd together and get hit by cars. Many I see with perm leg injuries .

  2. If that becomes a trend, y’all will not like it. They eat everything. Having nice plants in a yard is difficult and involves lots of chicken wire and you will find yourself researching Deer resistant plants. Good Luck They are a major nuisance.

    • I’m familiar with the problem. Back on the farm they were regarded, pretty much, as rats with hooves.

  3. sir:
    they prefer to lie in flower beds when they sleep in your yard, with a nice northern exposure. truly. and, the suburbs hold a wonderful attraction to them, once they figure out suburbanites hold little danger.
    good luck.
    and, they like roses.
    john jay

  4. p.s. and, i might add, they are in very prime condition. beautiful animals. you are very “lucky.” laughing.

  5. Pretty, but voracious little critters. We have a couple does, several fawns, and a couple of bucks in our neighborhood. So far they’ve pruned off all our strawberry and bean plants, chomped on the peach and apple trees, and browsed down our gooseberries. Come buck season, I’m definitely thinking about trying out my new Henry .44 mag lever action on one of these animate Hoovers.

  6. Perhaps flat face pellets would be sufficient discouragement without harming them? If you have local laws forbidding airguns, informing the police that you will be calling them often, to ‘wrangle” your invaders, might get you a pass on proper use.
    Suggest that you will dress them out for a portion of the meat, after they shoot them? (providing you trust them to shoot in your neighborhood)
    Alternatively, suggest that the proceeds could be donated to a local shelter. (Brownie points!)

  7. Yup; pellet gun.

    It is a sign of our feminized, or wussified, victim-worshiping, Pan-theist society that deer and other wild animals are once again colonizing our cities and towns, even acting like they own the place.

    We have had deer frequently destroying our garden crops until I put up a fence. Even then, if I see one in or near the yard anymore, my pellet rifles are close at hand, ready for action. I can tell you that a couple of hits in the ass will keep a deer away for a long time. They do need the occasional reminder though. The little guy we had frequenting our yard this spring wasn’t deterred by the 17, so I had to whack him with the 22 air rifle. That did it. He only made a cursory appearance one time since then, and a single reminder shot has kept him away for weeks now. Anyway; they have plenty of feed down by the river, only yards from the house. They only go up into the residential areas for desert.

    It has occurred to me to contact WDFW to see about getting a depredation permit, as the deer in my home location are taking over. Every hunting season I get a deer that’s stuffed with new winter wheat grass too, so the farmers can’t appreciate them very much.

    • I was thinking a suppressed .22 during the middle of the night would be the tool of choice for people who cared little for the game laws.

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