They've been coming around with some frequency this summer. They take advantage of the tasty things that I've got growing in my yard. Things that I put some effort into. I've had to protect my young fig trees to the extent that they now resemble POW compounds In Iraq. I've had some tomatoes that I've been babying along, within a couple of days of being ripe, BAM, I went out to my garden and the ripe tomatoes were gone. They left two green ones behind because I think they rolled away under some lilac bushes nearby. They also grazed on the newest growth on some other tomatoes, and of course on the youngest growth of next year's raspberry canes. They always go for the youngest, tenderest part of the plants. The non-native plants, that's what they like. The stuff that people grow for pleasure or food.
Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was inspecting another area of my property and discovered that the deer had ravaged a small redwood tree. Which I've been babying along for many years. They danged near girdled the bark off in places.
I trimmed off the lower branches that they broke down but not off. Plenty of those already on the ground. I've covered the trunk with molded foam (like pipe wrap only made for kids to bat each other with) for protection. Which I hope will help keep the cambium layer from drying out too much before it can heal itself but who knows. It looked like they were after chewing on the bark as much as eating any of the foliage. I've never had them attack any of the native trees like that.
It upsets me to go out and find this predation against my plants. I'm not going to say the deer are sneaky, but I rarely see them. They come around in the early daylight hours. There are three of them. They are really nice looking animals (they ought to be after eating my stuff), very healthy with nice coats. Not like some of the ratty looking deer I've seen down along the Pacific coast of Wash. The last time I saw them was late in a morning. I ran out and shooed them away which didn't take much effort because they were eager to go and left quickly. I'm very tempted to take a shot with my 20 gauge and a slug or some buckshot. But I live in a no shooting zone in the county. There is also a practical aspect to this. When I'm out there when the deer are around, we're in close proximity. We're talking 20 or 30 feet. When you're up close on game like that, things happen real fast. It would be very easy to make an errant shot. My neighbors aren't real close, but close enough that it wouldn't be hard for the shot to go bad.
Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was inspecting another area of my property and discovered that the deer had ravaged a small redwood tree. Which I've been babying along for many years. They danged near girdled the bark off in places.
I trimmed off the lower branches that they broke down but not off. Plenty of those already on the ground. I've covered the trunk with molded foam (like pipe wrap only made for kids to bat each other with) for protection. Which I hope will help keep the cambium layer from drying out too much before it can heal itself but who knows. It looked like they were after chewing on the bark as much as eating any of the foliage. I've never had them attack any of the native trees like that.
It upsets me to go out and find this predation against my plants. I'm not going to say the deer are sneaky, but I rarely see them. They come around in the early daylight hours. There are three of them. They are really nice looking animals (they ought to be after eating my stuff), very healthy with nice coats. Not like some of the ratty looking deer I've seen down along the Pacific coast of Wash. The last time I saw them was late in a morning. I ran out and shooed them away which didn't take much effort because they were eager to go and left quickly. I'm very tempted to take a shot with my 20 gauge and a slug or some buckshot. But I live in a no shooting zone in the county. There is also a practical aspect to this. When I'm out there when the deer are around, we're in close proximity. We're talking 20 or 30 feet. When you're up close on game like that, things happen real fast. It would be very easy to make an errant shot. My neighbors aren't real close, but close enough that it wouldn't be hard for the shot to go bad.
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