Deer
We have lots of deer that come onto our farm here in Grand Forks. They tend to come first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I personally love to see them here but most people in the neighbourhood do NOT because of the damage they do to the crops, trees and vegetation.
A lot of people grow Marigolds and plant them at the end of the row of vegetables they are growing because the deer do not like them and so keep away.
The deer we have here on our land tend to be mainly the White-tailed deer. However we do get mule deer in our area too.
What they look like:
They are a tan color in the summer and a greyer-brown in the winter months. Their stomach, throat, inside their ears and around the eyes are white. The White-tailed deer, as their name suggests, have a white tail.
What they eat
They eat trees, twigs, nuts, corn, fruit, and green plants.
Deer have to beware of:
coyote, cougar, wolf, lynx, bob-cat, lynx, bear and domestic dog.
Deer are good at:
swimming.
White-tailed-deer on our farm:
Click on each photo to make it full-sized (It will open in a new window)
This is a favourite spot for the deer. There are often apples, pears and plums on the groudn to feast on and if there are not any then they grab them from the trees! They also go to the front garden to feast off the plums there in the summer time. They cannot get into our vegetable patch because we have fenced it.
Another favourite spot for the deer is the back three acres. A mother and her two fawns are there most evenings.
Both our dogs, Jaxx and Bosun, bark loudly when the deer are trespassing on their property and if they are free to run then they will chase them. I have never seen them get within ten feet of them but they try!
Deer in City park, central Grand Forks
We have been in City park in the centre of Grand Forks, listening to Music in the Park on Wednesday evenings in the summer time and we often see deer walking by the river. They do not seem bothered by the people although they do not come right up to them. This deer was spotted one evening when we were walking in the park.
Deer in the streets and in the gardens
Deer are regularly seen in people's gardens and by the road-side.
Go to this website
Canada > BC > Boundary > Grand forks > Atwood road
to see deer beside the road there.
November and December 2006
During November and December 2006 we have had a lot of deer in the fields. They come there at night and settle down. There have been many indentations of the snow to show where they have settled. Plus there are deer droppings around and many hoof prints.
January 2007.
We continue to get many deer in the fields during the evening. They often come in threes or fours. They also come up our drive way and stop outside our lounge and dining room windows. Bo and Jaxx, our dogs, get very excited and bark to tell us we have intruders. Bo especially likes to look out the window to spy them!
22 Jan 2007
Two short video clips of deer in the front yard, grazing and walking towards the back field:
March 2007. We have continued to get many deer in our fields both during the night and during the day. We have had as many as 12 in our field in the daytime at the same time. It is like having your own private "hide" living where we do as we can look out of the dining room window and see them without them getting frightened and leaving!
8 July 2007
This last week we have had ababy fawn that keeps coming into the back field. The first tiem I saw it was when I turned the irrigation on. The water sprayed him and he was off running away. There was no sign of his mother but I am sure she would not have been far away!
Today at about 2pm I was inside sittign at the dining table when I noticed a deer near to our garbage bin container. She was sauntering and eating from the wild rose bush. I mentioned it to Border Collie Bo and he was at the window, spied it , then barked at it. Jaxx, our Shih Zhu, heard the barking, went out to the back yard, faced the back field (ie. away from the garbage container) and barked his head off! The deer looked at him, wondering what he was barking at, looked at Bo barking at him, then a few minutes later decided to run off via the front lawn. Jaxx still didn't know what he was barking at! He missed seeing the deer completely!
7-30 pm and Jaxx is on the back field and spies the same deer (it looked like the same deer!). The deer went nearer to Jaxx until Jaxx decided to chase it away!
We don't see so many deer in the summer time, but as you can see, they are still around!