On 5/19/2014 7:16 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
Frank wrote:
On 5/19/2014 2:43 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
While sippin' my second cuppa this morning my wife started
hollering for me to come to the kitchen . She points out the window
and it takes me a second to realize there's a whitetail doe munching
on my lettuce ! Time to start taking steps I guess ... and then we
start discussing the damage I thought insects were doing to our new
fruit trees ... yup , the forest rats have been at them too . I mean
, it's not like there's a shortage of succulent new growth for the
buggers to eat ! The woods here are just bustin' out all kinds of
green , why oh why do they have to eat the stuff I grow for me ??

So this afternoon I'll be using 8 of my new 5' tall tomato cages
to try to keep the deer from eating my trees . Hope it works ,
because they're skinny this time of year and not very good eatin' .


They can sometimes reach about 6 feet off the ground. As everything
greens up, they may neglect your trees but come back when they fruit.

I call them rats with hooves to differentiate from the tree rats i.e.
squirrels.

Young trees need to be fenced. In the fall, bucks can tear them up
polishing their antlers. I've seen them destroy trees up to maybe 6
inches in diameter. Park near here wanted to reforest an area and
just wrapped the trunks. They lost about half the trees.

We live in a clearing out in the woods . There is PLENTY of succulent new
growth for them to snack on . I believes it's a conspiracy - I hunted them
last fall ...


Wish I could hunt ours. I could use my crossbow but we are within the
200 yard limit of occupied dwellings and my wife does not want me to.
I'm down to my last months supply of venison from last year gleaned from
hunting on public land. Very frustrating to go hunting in the afternoon
and look out a the thermometer on the deck to see what to wear and see a
buck eating my shrubbery right next to the house.

Just this afternoon I looked out and saw a doe with her fawn that could
not have been more than a week old. Deer are cute but royal PITA. In
the fall when my chestnut trees are producing, my back yard is like a
stock yard. Yelling won't chase them and I've taken to throwing fire
crackers.