Oh Deer!

Our deer, Grace, is in the middle, and the little fawn was rehabilitating as a rescue on the farm after his mother was killed in a car accident. The dog, Fella, just couldn’t resist getting in the picture too!

You might think that this post is going to be about how cute little Bambi is and how everyone should go out an get a deer, but you’d be wrong. This might be the first time I’m not recommending an animal for people to keep as pets. I’m basing that opinion on their comparatively wild personalities and the difficulties involved with keeping them. In addition to adequate (i.e. extremely fortified) housing for such a large animal, there are usually licenses and/or permits for keeping them depending on the local laws. Keeping white-tailed deer is beyond my personal skill set, and it will probably stay that way. Grace, out resident deer, can be more than a handful. Don’t get me wrong! Most of the time she is a sweetie, even though she does like to find trouble when she can. But the thing is, she can be a bit territorial, and so for my safety (and the safety of visitors) she is kept in a tall fenced-in area up by the house. Grace and I get along very well on opposite sides of the fence; she loves to lick the salty sweat off of my hands and to have me scratch her head. Years ago the fence was set up so that you had to go through her enclosure to get to the house. We learned the hard way that if a deer decides to dislike you, it can get pretty bad.

Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All

One misconception that almost everybody has is that deer are fragile little pushovers waiting to be hunted. This idea is so far from the truth. Deer go toe-to-toe with nature’s top predators on a daily basis, and yet there are still huge populations of these animals throughout North America. Deer would never have been able to survive and thrive were it not for their incredible speed, agility, strength, and a very tough attitude. This video might be hard to watch, so if you decide to skip it, I won’t tell. It is a great example of why you should never come between a doe and its fawn, and it shows that if the deer feels like it wants too, it can kick your sorry butt.

Okay. Now imagine being that dog. I can tell you from experience, it’s not fun and it will hurt a whole lot. That day when Grace got me cornered and started stomping me, I was really scared. It took me quite a while after that day before I could go up to her again. We still haven’t figured out why it happened (or why she randomly chooses people to hate, like Deb’s brother, who is out at the farm all the time), but I don’t take it personally. I know that she wasn’t really trying to kill me (although the thought did pass through my mind!) because she could have done so much more damage if she had really wanted to hurt me. Luckily, I got away with a few bruises and a wounded pride, but I got the chance to see first-hand how powerful these animals really are.

Gimme the Run Down

This is a size comparison between an adult buck and a 6 foot tall human. For more cool deer facts, click on the picture to check out the National Geographic’s “White-Tailed Deer” page.

In order to truly appreciate these magnificent creatures, you have to recognize that they are so much more than just fragile little fawns. Adult white-tails generally grow to around 6 to 7 1/2 feet tall, and they consist of between 100 and 300 pounds of muscle. And yet, the image that comes to mind is one of gentle grazers peacefully prancing along in the fields, flicking their bright white tails, and batting their huge dark eyes. And I’m not saying the “pretty” image isn’t true, but it’s not a complete picture. I love deer so much more now that I know how powerful they are underneath all that graceful beauty. I love watching Grace prance around the yard, and the best parts are at dawn and dusk when she gets extra frisky and just runs around the enclosure in such an impossibly stunning way. Sometimes, if you blink, you might miss her passing by. Deer can run up to 30 mph, so it can get a little hard to keep track of where she is in the enclosure.

Even though Grace still only loves me if I am outside her fence, I have developed a love for deer alongside my healthy respect for them. In the fields and wooded areas surrounding the farm, it’s fun to watch herds of wild deer (from a very very safe distance!) scamper around as the sun sets. In the winter, we’ll go out and look for the antlers that the bucks have shed since they grow a whole new set every year. These incredible animals truly deserve our respect and admiration. Learn all about them at the National Geographic’s website or on the Nature Works website.

A quick note on hunting:

This photo really shows off the deer’s natural beauty, but you can also see the powerful muscles of its body. The photo comes from the Nature Works website. Click on the picture to check out more of their deer info!

I, personally, do not hunt. That being said, I see it as more of a personal choice. I do not respect “for-the-sport” hunters who are only after a trophy, but I do respect hunters who process the animal and make use of all the parts instead of being wasteful. In my opinion, there is nothing inherently wrong with hunting if it is done in the most humane way possible with respect given to the animal’s life and body (which, to me, includes not letting the body go to waste). I’ve tried deer, and it is actually pretty tasty if prepared well.

Sadly, deer populations are out of control in most of the country, which I trace back to the wolves being driven out. And so now, many people die or become injured by deer due to run-ins with cars from overpopulation. In fact, more people die as a result of deer than of sharks each year. Efforts to control the deer populations (for the safety of people and health of the animals) are usually handled on a local level so that counties can respond to changes in deer population patterns. Illegal poaching, deer baiting, or just unfair/cheating hunting practices are not ever solutions to the problem. Necessary population culling should always be done legally and with the animals’ best interests in mind.