Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we see a lot of deer on our backyard. DW wants to feed them with deer corn and such. any reason we shouldn't?

It won’t make a difference. They’re going to saunter through regardless. Deer are well fed in this area and their only predator are cars. They are an edge dwelling species and were so over developed in this area that they thrive:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oh-deer-70659694/

FWIW, walking from my car to my kid’s school a tick landed on me. They are devious even when the terrain is mostly sidewalk and black top.

If your DW wants to create a yearling moment, get her a dog to love. Then she’ll worry more about ticks.

I'm PP who feeds deer, and I have a dog. Your wife will probably spend more time grooming the dog.

I love my foxes though! Can I say that there is nothing cuter than the fox cubs? They are so gray and fluffty!

They need to cull the deer population in MoCo by at least 90% or more. And do the same for the squirrels and chipmunks that are raiding my bird feeders and flower pots. Hate them.

A fed deer is a dead deer. Easy prey for hunters and collisions. Sometimes the drivers die too.

Anonymous wrote:we see a lot of deer on our backyard. DW wants to feed them with deer corn and such. any reason we shouldn't?

It won’t make a difference. They’re going to saunter through regardless. Deer are well fed in this area and their only predator are cars. They are an edge dwelling species and were so over developed in this area that they thrive:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oh-deer-70659694/

FWIW, walking from my car to my kid’s school a tick landed on me. They are devious even when the terrain is mostly sidewalk and black top.

If your DW wants to create a yearling moment, get her a dog to love. Then she’ll worry more about ticks.

Rodents also love corn, and snakes love rodents.

It was the snakes that finally convinced me to get rid of the bird feeders. Would imagine feeding deer would be similar.

Yes - it's especially good to feed them corn. It fattens them up nicely and in the fall you enjoy some of the best venison you've ever tasted in your life.

Enjoy!

Anonymous wrote:Right now I'm staying with a friend in NJ, in a dense suburban neighborhood, where the deer graze daily in everyone's yards. They don't care when you pull up in your car next to them, and the moms with babies look at you defiantly when you are near them.

My friend totalled her car last year when she ran into one of them. The large population here is a big problem, and should not be encouraged.

This why crossbows exist.

Cheap, silent, and kills deer dead.

I hate deer and wish them a short life

It’s not legal where I live. You can feed the birds but that’s it. I think if I fed deer it would only let the hunters get closer before they shoot.

Right now I'm staying with a friend in NJ, in a dense suburban neighborhood, where the deer graze daily in everyone's yards. They don't care when you pull up in your car next to them, and the moms with babies look at you defiantly when you are near them.

My friend totalled her car last year when she ran into one of them. The large population here is a big problem, and should not be encouraged.

Please don't feed them. They are extremely overpopulated as it is, because they no longer have any natural predators (wolves, cougars, etc.) to keep their population in check. You may be subsidizing them for a while, but they suffer greatly from starvation and disease because (except for targeted hunting) the herd doesn't get thinned.

In addition to the Lyme (not Lymes BTW) disease risk, overpopulated deer eat all the native plants they can find (which is only natural, because that's what they evolved to eat). So people plant non-natives as "deer proof" landscape plants, many of which are invasive. Those invade our parks, deer eat anything native that sprouts, and the bottom line is that natural areas like Rock Creek Park are full of invasives. The mature trees are about the only native plants left, and there aren't any replacements coming up because the deer eat them all. This has the knock-on effect of decimating habitat for native insects, birds, small animals, etc.

I would be in favor of Maryland DNR and/or the National Capitol Parks people coming in and knocking down the deer population by 90%. It's just a terrible situation all around, not least for all the deer that starve, die of disease, or get hit by cars.

There are far too many deer in most suburban neighborhoods. Their population has exploded since they have no natural predators left and no one is allowed to hunt them. The only thing that limits the population are cars and starvation.

There are some places in lower Montgomery county with 250+ deer per square mile. That's TEN TIMES the carrying capacity of typical deer habitat.

But there's plenty for them to eat, and nothing eating them. So you have a overpopulation until you get a disease outbreak or starvation.

Anonymous wrote:Being smart about the huge rise of lymes doesn’t mean you hate deer. It means you’re educated.

Squirrels, rats, mice, chipmunks, lizards, raccoons and birds also host ticks that carry Lyme. I live in a wooded area and have all of the above (except lizards, but I wish I did). I'm not interested in making wildlife leave my yard. They can stay and eat whatever they want.

Being smart about the huge rise of lymes doesn’t mean you hate deer. It means you’re educated.