Hello Sherry,
Nice collection of photos you've gathered of the friends we have hanging at our place. I've included a couple photos of Chester and his buddy John (Deer). Chester showed up a couple years ago as a spotted fawn with a broken hind leg and no Mom. He was with Daisy, a year old doe that ate apples out of our hand. He stayed with Daisy until the neighbor shot her the last day of deer season. She had lunch at our house, walked across the street and I heard a shot and then never saw her again. We helped Chester through the winter with his broken leg and then he was gone over the following summer. That fall, near the end of hunting season he showed up again, this time his other hind leg was broken, so we nursed him again. He ate apples, alfalfa and whole corn. His leg mended the best it could and he survived the winter. John had been here late last summer with another friend that looked just like him, just a little larger, yet friendlier. The neighbor shot and wounded that deer as his blood trail ran up our driveway and disappeared up the hill toward the south. They looked for him, but couldn't find him. He likely died somewhere.
After hunting season was over lone John showed up and started hanging out with Chester, so I fed him too. They have been friends over the past year showing up often during the summer and now they are here daily due to the fallen acorns and collected apples from our orchard. As we all know, it's tough to grow anything outside that deer like unless it's protected by a fence. This year I put up a 7' chain link fence so Sally can do a garden and flowers without having them harvested by nature. I still have the east gate to install, but yesterday Chester and John were in the yard checking out my handy work. They are a little confused as to why such a thing suddenly appeared. We had a good time watching as they tried to figure things out.
Last evening I was outside working when I saw a pickup on the road stop and then rapidly back up to the end of our driveway. I walked over to where I could see what they were up to and saw Chester and John standing about 100' up the driveway and they were looking at the guys in the pickup. I whistled and they came running to me, knowing I likely had an apple for them. The guys in the pu just sat and watched until another car came up behind them.
I'm guessing John has a target on his back this year, but I called the neighbor and asked if he'd give Chester a break. We'll see if it did any good.
Ron
I love these stories! We get traces of deer (eaten plants and broken limbs) but rarely do we see them this 'up close'.
x o x
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