Showing My Spots

[lprof]

"One" and "Two"

[Florida Girl]

Awww.... are these little guys in your backyard? They're soooo cute!!!

[lprof]

Awww.... are these little guys in your backyard? They're soooo cute!!!

They are....

[shoemak38]

Our two in our yard have eaten our hosta about a third of our cucumbers and tomatoes and they are still growing

[lprof]

Our two in our yard have eaten our hosta about a third of our cucumbers and tomatoes and they are still growing

Mom, Dad, the Twins, and sometimes Auntie, have eaten many of my flowers; they don't seem to like Lantana or Pentas, but rose thorns don't slow them a second. We love watching them play!

[djmom]

What a beautiful photo!

[shoemak38]

this was timely, I'm guessing you also read today

They are impressive animals, but an editorial from Bloomberg News (via the StarTribune) explains that there are negative features to consider, especially when the population expands:
There were about 1.09 million deer-vehicle collisions from June 2010 to June 2011, State Farm Insurance reports, with average property damage of more than $3,000 an accident. Add to that a billion or so dollars for agricultural damage. Deer carry ticks that spread Lyme disease. And their voracious chomping has resulted in "ghost forests" -- particularly in the Northeast.

If a forest is healthy, it will support about 15 deer per square mile, and many scientists say that a degraded patch can't be restored unless the population is about five per square mile. Compare that target with the actual deer densities: Some areas of the United States have 40 to 50 of them in a square mile, with much higher estimates in some Eastern suburbs.

In New Jersey, one-third of the remaining species of native plants are endangered, largely because of deer. Many warblers, thrushes and dozens of other ground-nesting birds lose the protection of native plants, and some species of native pollinators -- butterflies, moths, beetles -- vanish...

The hunters who are supposed to control the deer want to keep the numbers up so they have a better chance of shooting a buck. They support changes such as the New Jersey measure to allow bow hunting closer to houses, but they generally oppose efforts to reduce the deer population...

[lprof]

this was timely, I'm guessing you also read today

Actually, I have gotten rather bogged down trying to keep up with the recently prolific writings in the "Need a laugh?" column.

We have had our collision for the year... about a mile from our house... the buck appeared uninjured (as was the driver), yet he left fur on the smashed front of my car.

Last night around 10 as I sat at my kitchen desk watching the virtual world, a long thin tail whipped across the window in front of me... possum on the porch sitting on the window sill. What is it they say... you can take the country out of the girl, but not the girl out of the country? Nah, that's not it; but it is true for me!

[waterguy]

Ours are loosing their spots next will be the red caots will turn gray by the end of Sept. Suprised how small they are this late in the year. But yor deer in the south are smaller then ours anyway.

[CBama]

pretty picture


Waterguy: the comment about deer being smaller in the South made me laugh...

I know it's a true statement...I just read it in a funny way!