One of the German words for Zoo is der Tiergarten which literally translated means the animal garden. We have had a herd of deer in our backyard garden now for a couple of months. They come in the early morning, eat the bushes and relax in the sun or the shade of a large spruce tree in our garden. They come when it rains, snows or even in good weather. Sometimes the buck or male of the group comes with them and they stay all day!
Bryan is here on a visit, stepped out on the back porch and took these picture of four does in the garden. You can see why they call them mule deer as they have those big floppy ears. The does are all pregnant and hang out here just before they deliver somewhere up in the mountains but they have been coming for two or three years.
It is amazing to me that they would seek out the yard of a "Great White Hunter" (African term for safari hunters) for refuge, comfort and safety. They watch us in the house and do not budge. This time Bryan has an Iphone and one of the Aps is a collection of animal sounds; there are about 30 deer calls. We opened the window and played the doe in heat sounds, the fawn in distress, the buck in the rut grunts and the horns rattling from two bucks fighting. They all pricked up their big ears and wondered what the devil was going on in the house but settled down for a long day rest.
Well it is too tempting for a life long deer hunter not to practice. Bry snapped a picture of Opa with his Austrian hunting rifle taking a bead on one of those cheeky deer in the back yard.
It relives the thrill of the hunt by seeing a deer in the cross hairs of the rifle scope without having to clean up a mess in the backyard. I have seen more deer in the rifle scope in our yard than in a lifetime of hunting them in the woods. I gues they are pretty safe here, we even threw them carrots and I put out a salt lick to be sure they get their proper minerals.
It is fun to have your own Tiergarten!
Love, Opa
5 comments:
That is a funny picture - I showed the kids the deer then scrolled down to the gun and they all gasped
We have about eight or nine deer that like to frequent our backyard, but thanks to Peggy Cozy (our dog) they don't stay long. They are pretty animals, but they eat my trees and shrubs and even dig down in the snow to chow on my perennials. I hope your backyard vegetation survives the deer better than ours!
It was only a sighting picture
These deer are very safe in our backyard!
You could probably quietly take one down with a crossbow or a smaller caliber rifle with a suppressor.
Rob, I thought about that and asked my neighbor if he would mind me following a blood trail through his yard and he was not too keen on the idea. Mom is into food storage and when I look at these deer, I think of walking organic meat supply
But they are safe.. it is so terribly tempting
Post a Comment