The Plague of Deer Returneth

[ellyssian]

The other day, them durn vermints et up more trees - they picked most of the leaves of the tulip tree and a large number off the river birch. They also cleaned all the leaves off of two of the hostas along the stream (leaving the ones by the porch, 10' away or so, alone.)

I offered to pay Justin $50 to sit outside 24-7, armed with a baseball bat, but for some reason he didn't take me up on it.

Last night they cleared off a number of the remaining river birch leaves and - this part gets me the most - they clipped the cider gum in half. Didn't like it, didn't eat it, just left half of it sitting there on the ground.

The cats are unusually quiet on the subject, and have refused to answer any questions about their gross dereliction of duty. Of course, they may have discovered that I stretched the truth a bit when I told them deer taste just like tuna.

If the deer keep this up, I might have to take up hunting, either that or try to bribe some of the bears. If only we could get the bears up off their fat, lazy, hairy butts and keep their noses out of bird feeders and trash cans, they may go back to their traditional prey.

Comments

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

Cougars. You need some cougars.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

You know, Tanis keeps insisting he could take a cougar, but I have my doubts.

Problem is Tika is the better hunter of the two of them, but she also tends to be scared of her own shadow.

But yeah, a cougar or two would work. Would help keep the neighbors German shepherds out of my yard, too.

[opakele.livejournal.com]

I can't offer any helpful suggestions. Nightsky has a technique that enjoyed some success, but it doesn't look pretty. He plants a seedling and surrounds it with dead branches, in kind of teepi. The deer were just ripping the seedlings out of the ground and tossing them aside. We leave the teepis until they fall apart.

Sorry, it won't help much on bigger trees. The deer are little varmits.