Early this morning, I heard a conversation that included several different children – older children – saying things like this:
“Of course deer come up on our deck! We hear them tap-tapping around on the deck. Last night one was bumping on the door.”
“Mom, you knew that. I told you I saw one last year!”
“So did I! You weren’t surprised when I told you.”
I’m not sure what to think. Our deck is completely railed, and 12-14′ off the ground. It is accessed only by a single staircase. Wouldn’t that smell like a trap to any self-respecting deer?
Of course, the deer around here are rather tame. Some of the neighbors feed them, so they are used to human presence. They do come into the front yard and watch us. Sometimes they wave and say hi. I’ve seen them in the chicken house, helping themselves to the laying mash. They’re really not concerned about us unless we head straight toward them.
My mom even has an adopted orphan buck. He shed his baby spots long ago but still sneaks into her house at every chance, not convinced that his bottle-fed days are over. He also plays with the highly territorial family dog, and chews on bones. Deer bones. Rupert is not your average buckling.
But does that mean that the unnamed whitetails around our property are bold enough to wander the deck at night, peeking in the windows and knocking on the front door, asking to use our restroom? And exercising the courtesy to abstain from our 40 lb. box of apples that was out there last night? Do deer do these things?
I’m not sure about this. Would you buy the story?
I’d buy it…… bound and in the fiction section of an independent bookseller.
Your “deer” sound more like tree limbs, but it’s entirely possible you’ve had a lost deer show up. I just wouldn’t imagine that’s the sort of thing that would happen every week. If it’s the deck railing pictured in your heading picture, I wouldn’t imagine many deer would venture there.
I’ll buy it.
My newly sprouted begonias are GONE, and they were on the front porch with the light on. Crazy ol Deers. I’m not as nice as your neighbors, if the deer gets spotted on our front porch again, they’ll be invited in for supper, Backstrap and Mashed Taters at Pebblekeeper’s house!
I would buy the deer coming on the deck. We have an awful problem with deer where we live. We don’t feed them, but they don’t care how much we yell at them, they won’t leave! They like to eat our flowers. GRRRR! Now I don’t think they would have kept away from your apples though.
Lulu
That’s funny! Sounds like people in your neck of the woods of friendlier to deer than they are in ours…Venison is a staple in these parts!
deer do all of those things…BUT they’d NEVER leave the apples untouched
I buy it–except the apples. I think they would eat the apples. When I was little we adopted a deer until someone shot it–it was just losing its spots. We did not have screen door or AC so Naaa (that was its name–i was little remember) would come in the house if we were not careful! One day we found him eating the Rolaids!
If it’s true, don’t let your deer talk to our deer. The deck is my only hope for any sort of a garden. Around here they even eat plants that garden centers advertise as “deer proof.” Luckily, our freezer is full of venison, so we wouldn’t have much space to store garden veggies anyway!
Yep, the only part I have trouble buying is the part about the apples.
Definitely. As long as things are still and quiet the deer are going to be all over the place like mammalian cockroaches. And they are *nimble*, so that staircase is not going to pose them any problems. When we had a garden we had to put an electric fence around it, and they would JUMP OVER IT to get to our veg.
They probably weren’t there last night, though, or they would have demolished your apples – unless the box was covered (they aren’t raccoons).
That Rupert would be a precious site on any deck! As long as he stayed out of the apples…
I totally believe that the deer would venture onto your deck…and maybe something just scared them back down before they could make a meal of your apples?