The Deer Feeder

On of the pleasures of sitting at our dining room table is to look out to our deer feeder. It is almost at the back of the property next to the barn. It is only an 8" pipe secured to a tree. The corn falls out the bottom, hopefully slowly. It feeds not only deer but also the local squirrels, cardinals and one very fat raccoon. But it is mainly there for the deer. We have a group consisting of a doe and a couple of yearlings that comes by consistently. The largest group was 7.

The feeder is on the trail that runs across the back of our property from the 150 acres on the east to the 9 acres on the west. There is also a trail coming up straight from the back. There are 50 acres there that are just woods. The deer have figured out that they are safe here. We don�t have anything against hunting. Actually, I love venison. But, the feeder is there to attract the deer for our enjoyment, not to be shot. So, no hunting on our property.

We can go outside, check on the dogs, sit at the picnic table, barbeque, whatever. We have even gone out, loaded the pickup and driven off. The deer just look.

About 1/3 of the way from our house to the feeder is Smokey�s run. Smokey is 1/2 Akita and 1/2 Siberian Husky. He weighs about 80 pounds. He is not happy about the deer being on his property. They have learned that he cannot do anything about it. They know the reach of his run. They come into the yard to graze to within 20� of his run. If they could laugh, I�m sure they would. He crouches down like a cat stalking a bird. The most he gets is that they look up...but not for long.