Yesterday, while I was reading Anna's blog post at Green-Talk about how she protects the vegetables in her garden from deer and other critters by covering them with old pantyhose (ingenious and comical at the same time), I got to thinking about our collective love/hate relationship with deer. The White-Tailed Deer in northern New Jersey are virtually everywhere--moseying through the rural sections as well as the suburbs, and too often, not making it across the busy highways. Anything we're growing that we want to eat, we keep on our deck or in our greenhouse because we've been burned one too many times by deer making a quick smorgasbord of our new plantings.
Sometimes I resent the deer for their insatiable appetites (realizing, of course, that they're just trying to survive in a world where the borders between "us" and "them" are shrinking), but I have to admit, they are really beautiful animals. Funnily enough, they've always reminded me of ballet dancers with their elongated-but-muscular, delicate-but-capable bodies. And their ability to blend in with the forest is nothing short of amazing. Sometimes, we can be out on our deck, having a meal and looking out into the woods, thinking we're just seeing the trees, and then a deer rises to its feet--and then another--and then another--and we realize it wasn't just the trees after all.
Just last week, my nine-year-old son walked to the edge of the woods in our backyard and came face-to-face with a deer about 10 feet away. He kept edging closer and closer, and finally stopped, standing there in a sort of wordless conversation with the animal. There was something magical about the two of them standing there in silence and stillness, regarding each other with curiosity. Both of them young and beautiful in their own way, but together, an exquisite pairing. I asked him later what he felt in that moment. "So peaceful," he replied.
As a society, we've definitely got polarized feelings about deer. I know a few people who hate deer because of Lyme Disease, and I hail from East Lyme, Connecticut, the epicenter of the disease, so I'm no stranger to it (having gotten the tell-tale bull's-eye rash over three decades ago, before most people even knew what it was), but to me, it's just blaming the messenger: The ticks are the ones who have latched on for the ride. I know a lot of people who endorse "thinning the herd" through hunting, and others who still feel heavy guilt and sadness because their car hit a deer. I just saw an article yesterday about a family fighting to keep a pet deer they've raised since it was born.
Well, I'm not taking in any deer as houseguests, but I'm not in favor of hunting them either. I guess I've grown to be at peace with them, and I like them more than I don't. It just takes some adjustments. Regularly, I'm out spraying our bushes with an earth-friendly (but nose-unfriendly) concoction that smells like rotten eggs. Maybe even worse. (I've tried a bunch of deer repellants--my favorite name was Not Tonight Deer!, but I currently use Liquid Fence. Tip: Do NOT spray deer repellant on a windy day; you will be sorry--and stinky.)
We often have various friends visiting from the city (New York) who can't believe their luck when a large herd of deer meanders across our yard. Our guests scramble for their camera-phones and start snapping away. But for us, it's just another day and another deer herd, making its way across our shared terrain. Now and then, we stop to take a picture of them, too.
How do you feel about deer? Love 'em, hate 'em, or somewhere in between? Why? How do you keep them from eating your plants? Please share in the Comments section below (now powered by CommentLuv for ease of use). If you are reading this post via email subscription, click on the title or go to www.JoyfullyGreen.com and you can leave a comment at the original post.
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