Living out in the country is wonderful. Of course, there are chores to do, but even those are a blessing. While I was out feeding my animals today, I heard some noises in the woods near my chicken coop, so I stopped a few to see what it might be. There were at least 3 young deer feeding, and eating the underbrush. That is fine, and much better than them munching on my garden. They were no longer in their spots, but I think they were last year's fawns, now juveniles. There were 2 males, with short fuzzy horns, and a female together for sure. I talked softly to them, and the female came up closer to see who or what I was.... The males turned to watch me also, but then went back to eating. I have also had some raccoons invading my old shed and helping themselves to my pet feed... They had been dumping feed cans (ordinary old steel trash cans), even after I put bungee straps on them. I have had my feed out there for years, and nothing bothered it before. They have been checking the doghouses at dusk, or a bit earlier, and even checking out my shed while I was still outdoors. I guess they know I am kind of "soft in the head" about animals....? Because they do not run away from me. Very few animals do. So we went to the hardware store, and bought chicken wire, hinges, a latch, and odds and ends to close off a wall between the halves. My shed is quite old and dilapidated, but that is what is here. It took most of an afternoon, and DS did the technical work of building a door, and I closed in an open section with chicken wire... The little rascals were back before dark to see what we had been doing in "their" shed.... So I got out a bottle of cayenne pepper, and hauled a cement block over there to reinforce our handy work. I am sure they were not happy, and so far, it has kept them out. They were trying to undo it immediately. Even when I was walking my dogs... Dogs do chase them off... I don't think they are rabid, but only have extra babies to find food for. I have tried to leave them a few bites of dog food in the afternoons, but I am not feeding them 50-100 lbs of feed! I put up leftover dog food in the afternoons, because that is too much food to leave out. The kids put out some spoiled produce in the compost heap, instead of the chicken coop... No idea why, but maybe they felt sorry for Coony. I hope it works.... The weather has been mild, but getting hot. And all that rain we had last month or so is about gone. The soil is bone dry already. At least some rain is forecast to be moving in by tomorrow. Missouri has what is called karst underground, which is limestone with all kinds of holes and caves, and the rain goes deep underground in a hurry, and the topsoil dries out quickly.
I have lived in the country all of my 50 years, 13 miles from the nearest town and I deal with this type of thing on a regular basis. They are cute and fun to watch. But a person really doesn't want to feed them any food. They will later become a nuisance and tear up things and kill chickens, etc., if you do not "shoo" them away or stop now. The Creator has supplied all their needs and He can take care of them without our help...HE has since the beginning of creation. Have a good day.
We have had deer, a fox, raccoons, rabbits, an owl, snakes and turtles in our backyard and barn lot. The only damage we've had is the raccoons tearing down the platform feeder for the wild birds. Three times they have taken down the feeder and my husband is plotting revenge with a raccoon-proof feeder. It keeps him interested and he gets to use his engineering skills! While I'm hanging clothes on the line and listening to the birds, or open the curtains in the morning and see two rabbits frolicking on the front lawn, or see a line of turtles sunning on the pond bank, I figure we have it pretty good out here in the country!
Coony has not been around so much since we closed off half the shed. I have lived here over 30 years, and have not had problems with them before--until last summer when one was eating my cantaloupes. Some days the deer are here a lot, others not in daylight at least. The chickens are closed in for their protection, and to keep them off the front porch... They make an awful mess if loose, and get eaten easily. But they can get pesky sometimes. There is plenty of wild things for them to eat. FYI, if you see a tip about using grated up Irish Spring bar soap to discourage pests in your garden, it does NOT WORK. And it makes things taste funny... It was on Pinterest last year, and I have seen it elsewhere too.
