10/23/2004: Stuck deer

[Griff]

A couple different ways. Feeding deer causes them to bunch up near the food source. When the food is not spread over a wide area the older bigger animals chase the younger smaller ones away from the food source, but being fawns they stay close by rather than going off on their own. This also leads to over-browsing destroying the alternative food sources adjacent to the feeding area. Whitetails digestive processes change based on available food. It takes about 2 weeks for the bacteria to develop and allow the deer to digest a new food source, if access to feed is sporatic or if the available food keeps changing, they can starve with a belly full of food.

This ignores the potential for disease and predation by dogs that you'll get if you bunch deer in a suburban environment. Deer do best in winter if they don't move around much and have access to browse. Lets just let them be.

[self-mocking]thank you, Mister Know It All[/self-mocking]