Oh Dear, Deer

[ApeofLight]

Well when I awoke this morning I found a deer in my backyard and it still has its antlers. Now this isn't unusual, I usually see a deer or two in my backyard about every year around this time. Yet for whatever reason I'm still surprised when I see them and vice versa.

Anyway does anyone here have similar experiences? Similar in that it isn't unusual but it still surprises you when it happens.

[Ponce]

I see them a lot when I go cycling.

I would be very, very surprised to see one outside my home, and would probably call animal control.

[Syka]

Whenever I see: rats, rabbits, armadillo, or opposums. The first is pretty rare (I've seen, maybe, two both of which were being chased by cats at the time). The second we believe had been a former housepet, because we've only ever seen it in my boyfriend's neighborhood. The last two are both native critters but you don't see them around frequently, but enough. I get excited when I see armadillo.

Oddly, the one that NEVER surprises me are alligators. I guess you realize it comes with the territory of living in Florida. They are more common where I went to university than where I am now, but it still never surprises me when I see 'em. Pretty much if you have a body of water near your house, you assume you have an alligator. Even pools. Yes, pools; a neighbor found one in their pool a few years back.

[IsaacTheHungry]

I once woke up to my two dogs going nuts (i still haven't figured out how the got on the desk) looking out my brothers window at a buck with a full rack and a doe munching on the grass in my front yard at 4am. the deer didn't care because we close the doggy door at night

[ApeofLight]

Yeah, I see dear all around the place during winter where I live and it doesn't surprise me at all, interesting but not surprising. Yet whenever its in my yard its a little surprising.

[Vizzerdrix]

Coyotes chase dear into my sister's yard often. Sometimes they'll stay there until noon.

[Ilena]

I was trotting down the trail on my horse one day and came around a corner and there was a deer standing right there about 5 ft away at most, she jumped into the bush after half a second and we stopped the horses (though they didnt spook which was good :P) and i see deer all the time, well not all the time but often enough that i dont get suprised where ever they end up,

[Miklus]

I see them a lot when I go cycling.

Me too. I'm always surprised to see sqiurrels. We have these red ones. It is amazing how fast they can run up a tree. It is one of my favorite animals.

[The Extinguisher]

We mostly get city animals around here. Lots and lots of birds. Although I have seen some interesting pigeons before. One that was eating cigarette butts. Kinda surprised me at first.


Also, I swear I've seen a coyote walking in a field before. We get them around sometimes, and it was the weirdest thing ever.

[Don Julio Anejo]

I saw bears a stone's throw away near the city a few times. Luckily not in my back yard, that would be weird and I usually don't have a lot of vodka at my house. They're so cute and fuzzy when they're not trying to eat you...

Other than that, it's pretty much all skunks and raccoons around here. And god help you if you ever mix them up :smalltongue:

[raitalin]

I recently saw a coyote at the entrance fo my apartment complex, which wouldn't be that unusual except that I live on the outskirts of a major city.

Spotted a fox well inside the city a bit ago as well.

[Mauve Shirt]

There are deer EVERYWHERE here. Our house backs to a park, there's a whole bunch of them living back there. They are completely unafraid, they will walk right up to our yard. My dog will chase them if he's off the leash in the forest and they're around.

[Cristo Meyers]

I recently saw a coyote at the entrance fo my apartment complex, which wouldn't be that unusual except that I live on the outskirts of a major city.



Psh, in Chicago they'll walk right into a Subway and plop down in the cooler.

Of course, only in a major city would a coyote be able to do that and not end up getting shot dead.

[THAC0]

I get moose in my backyard regularly. Bears sometimes. Fox and bald eagles too.

[arguskos]

I live on about an acre of land in a rather nice neighborhood in the midst of the city here, and we have a large amount of growth and whatnot on our land (we like trees). Deer have figured out that we're not mean to them, and so we see deer ALL the damn time. I've woken up to find a horde (literally, there had to be 10+) deer milling about my yard. I opened the front door, they look up, freak out, and rush off in every direction. I don't even pay attention to deer these days.

[Dihan]

I was driving back to uni one night down a narrow country lane when I suddenly saw a something move on the embankment. The first thing I saw in the headlights was a head and a set of rather large antlers. Luckily it didn't run into the road.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

A month or two ago there was a doe in the middle of the financial sector of Toronto. Iirc, they ended up tasering it, because it was getting really agitated, and moved it back to the greenspace.

[Lappy9000]

Mostly squirrels, cardinals, finches, and various other small fauna around here.

However there are a few herons (or one big jerk) that like to nab the fish out of our backyard pond.

It's never fun to run into a particularly large black rat snake ('cause you never notice it until you're right on it / vice versa), but they're about as harmless as snakes come (we got copperheads too, but I've been lucky enough never to meet one of those).

A family of bats took to hanging out in our attic and devoured all the troublesome bugs in the area.

Oh, and opossums. Nasty little things :smallyuk:

Deer are plentiful and like to run into my mother's car at modest speeds :smallmad:

[Pyrian]

However there are a few herons (or one big jerk) that like to nab the fish out of our backyard pond.Yeah, if you have an outdoor fish pond it's very important to provide "caves" of some sort the fish can hide in. Or just chicken wire the whole area...

[McBish]

I once saw a cow running down the train tracks in my backyard. More surprising when you live in the middle of the town.

[Killer Angel]

USA are fantastic: when i was at my cousins houses, I've seen a lot of animals, from deers to hummingbirds.
Outside my house, here in Italy, i see often various little animals (salamanders, hedgehogs, etc) and not-so-little boars a couple of times.

(edit: not a big fan of birds, but also hawks, magpies, owls and storks)

...and it's ALWAYS beautiful to see 'em. :smallsmile:

[Elder Tsofu]

We've got a family of roe deers who stay in the forest behind our back-yard - so it's not unusual that we have them in the garden, happily munching on in the flowerbeds.
We also have a few foxes, almost tame, who steals my mothers shoes when she leaves them out. We found one of them happily dozing in the living-room couch once when we had left the door open.

My grandmother was a big feeder of roe-deers, birds, cats and whatever else she could find, and once when she was sick and couldn't get up and out with the apples, the deer came up to her bedroom window and stared in at her.
(She was living in an apartment building right at the edge of the woods, so there were many windows to choose from)

Quite tame, but we don't have many very special animals in the area.
Except the occasional moose, but we don't have the apple trees you need to attract them. (they really like fermented apples)

[Urbek]

I live on the outskirts of Austin, TX and I see deer ALL the time. We have so many trees and much brush that if I don't see deer, I'm surprised. They run across the road in front of you, graze in the lawns of houses along my travel route to and from work, I've even seen them run through my neighborhood occasionally. I spotted a bunch of does and their fawn grazing in the middle of a high school football field this last summer, while the players were practicing in a different part of the field.

A little over a month ago, I spotted a really nice buck through my rifle scope. Crosshairs were right on his neck...then he fell over.

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

Wow, you people have some strange local creatures roaming your neighbourhoods. I've seen deer, but mostly it's badgers and foxes. You know, ordinary animals. :smallwink:

[Kurien]

I never get some of the critters such as bears and deer that some of you claim to see, but I have seen my share of animals too. Like that one time a turkey (wild or feral?) passed through our backyard. And a number of young raccoons with their mother. I've also set out peanut butter for squirrels -- man, do they go nuts over that stuff :smalltongue: Something like three or four squirrels will gather around the PB which is right outside a window. Course, I haven't done that for a while.
A neighbour once dug a small pond in their backyard and stocked it with 2 catfish. All that remained of them the next day was a fishhead near the back door.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I love living in this bit rural area of NE Pennsylvania. We get a deer or two every few weeks. Sometimes across the road in the field, sometimes in our backyard near the woods. We always gather and look.