01-21-2026, 10:56 PM
We have had over two feet of snow in three storms this winter. We are above a hundred fifty inches of snow so far, and lots of that was wet and heavy snow. I went through around a hundred bucks of gas in the plow truck so far, and about fifteen bucks of gas in the tractor with the six and a half foot snowblower on the back of it.
The snowbanks are higher than the subaru forester in most places around the drive, and where there are not snowpiles from plowing, there is about three feet on the ground. The deer that come to feed at the patio door are complaining. They walk from house to house in a section of our road to eat if there are no paths. In our yard, they have trails to the the four houses around here, but they have to take the road sometimes, usually there are four to five fawns and a few big does on the road walking from one driveway to the other when we go to town.
Stripe is back, a little buck with buttons who eats out of my hand through an open patio door, he likes sticking his head into the house because it is warm. He disappeared for around five days...now he is back, but with two blood stained knees half way up his back legs. One is tore up and the other is just full of dried up blood in it's fir. Walking through snow like this, not on a trail, can cause a lot of problems for a deer, the hard crust can hurt or break their legs...or maybe he just got banged by a car on the road. I am glad he is back. Getting kind of attached to the little guy. His mother disappeared during bow season, so he has been on his own, but once in a while his older sister or aunt does hang around with him. We have been feeding these deer for many years, we know almost all of their grandmothers or great grandmothers and even maybe four or five generations farther than that.
Hopefully stripe is going to make it through the winter, I told him he is welcome to sleep on the deck if he wants. Most of the deer here are fairly tame, but only three of them will take something from your hand
Not good to get too attached to deer though, I am going to regret it I suppose. In this area, there are hunters, but none of the does usually get killed, but sometimes one does disappear during bow season. Other does usually adopt the fawn if that happens, but they are more apt to stop that adopted fawn from competing for food here, the does will chase the orphan away from the feeding places, I wouldn't want to have a doe hoof me in the back, sometimes fir flies off.
On facebook a guy who watches the deer herds stated that it is a real hard year on the deer this year, he expects a lot of deaths, except for on North Road in Negaunee, where the deer use the road to travel to feeding spots all the time, he said they look real healthy here on our road. Yeah, every time we go to town, you have to slow down and sometimes stop to let the deer head to the next driveway. I suppose this road does go to the rod and gun sportsman club, good advertising for the club. There are deer standing on the driveway to the gun club sometimes, one of their regular feeding places. The club does not have to mow their grass in the summer, just like us. You just have to watch for deer standing in our driveway eating when you come into our yard in the summer, those fawns are like kids, they don't pay attention to their parents warnings. Most people here go very slow on the road.
My daily exercise routine includes about five thousand steps feeding the deer plus shoveling out their feeding area on the deck and in front of the deck....I am a bus boy and waiter and food preparer...they like toast but not bread so I have to toast the bread for them.....they also like homemade strawberry jam occasionally on their toast. Good thing I am retired.
The snowbanks are higher than the subaru forester in most places around the drive, and where there are not snowpiles from plowing, there is about three feet on the ground. The deer that come to feed at the patio door are complaining. They walk from house to house in a section of our road to eat if there are no paths. In our yard, they have trails to the the four houses around here, but they have to take the road sometimes, usually there are four to five fawns and a few big does on the road walking from one driveway to the other when we go to town.
Stripe is back, a little buck with buttons who eats out of my hand through an open patio door, he likes sticking his head into the house because it is warm. He disappeared for around five days...now he is back, but with two blood stained knees half way up his back legs. One is tore up and the other is just full of dried up blood in it's fir. Walking through snow like this, not on a trail, can cause a lot of problems for a deer, the hard crust can hurt or break their legs...or maybe he just got banged by a car on the road. I am glad he is back. Getting kind of attached to the little guy. His mother disappeared during bow season, so he has been on his own, but once in a while his older sister or aunt does hang around with him. We have been feeding these deer for many years, we know almost all of their grandmothers or great grandmothers and even maybe four or five generations farther than that.
Hopefully stripe is going to make it through the winter, I told him he is welcome to sleep on the deck if he wants. Most of the deer here are fairly tame, but only three of them will take something from your hand
Not good to get too attached to deer though, I am going to regret it I suppose. In this area, there are hunters, but none of the does usually get killed, but sometimes one does disappear during bow season. Other does usually adopt the fawn if that happens, but they are more apt to stop that adopted fawn from competing for food here, the does will chase the orphan away from the feeding places, I wouldn't want to have a doe hoof me in the back, sometimes fir flies off.
On facebook a guy who watches the deer herds stated that it is a real hard year on the deer this year, he expects a lot of deaths, except for on North Road in Negaunee, where the deer use the road to travel to feeding spots all the time, he said they look real healthy here on our road. Yeah, every time we go to town, you have to slow down and sometimes stop to let the deer head to the next driveway. I suppose this road does go to the rod and gun sportsman club, good advertising for the club. There are deer standing on the driveway to the gun club sometimes, one of their regular feeding places. The club does not have to mow their grass in the summer, just like us. You just have to watch for deer standing in our driveway eating when you come into our yard in the summer, those fawns are like kids, they don't pay attention to their parents warnings. Most people here go very slow on the road.
My daily exercise routine includes about five thousand steps feeding the deer plus shoveling out their feeding area on the deck and in front of the deck....I am a bus boy and waiter and food preparer...they like toast but not bread so I have to toast the bread for them.....they also like homemade strawberry jam occasionally on their toast. Good thing I am retired.
We're doomed.
![[Image: PEART-2744335652.gif]](https://denyignorance.com/uploader/images/PEART-2744335652.gif)
