A few hours ago she went out to fill bird feeders. She never noticed anything but before she finished she started stomping the ground to fill in some holes and suddenly a fawn jumped up. She had been walking about 4' from it but never saw it. I often tell her she wears blinders. But she got a real thrill from it. The fawn did go away but I doubt it went far. I too saw several deer and a couple fawns while on the tractor and the atv. They aren't afraid when the see me and I like that.
About 8-9 years ago, I just about hit one with the lawn mower! Back in the 90's. I was walking in the woods when I stepped over a log and there was one right where I would have put my foot down! I have a pic somewhere of one when they are that tiny.
We have a large garden and a 5' fence. Still, occasionally they will jump the fence. To stop this we simply tie some plastic shopping bags to the top of the fence posts and that's all it takes. But if a garden is small like most folks are, then they won't usually jump because the fences are so close together from one side to the other. But if it is a larger area, they seem to lose their fear of getting trapped. A few years back we had a deer get into our smaller garden then by the looks of the tracks and the fence, it panicked. What a mess.
Yikes! I must have had to many beers when I posted this. Yes we have many. During the rut it's like playing dodge ball on the way to work. But we sure do have a lot of squirrels. They never get that close to the house though.
I've found that under normal circumstances, if they don't have a clear landing spot on the other side of the fence, they won't jump it. I didn't have them in one plot ever until I removed two rows of grape vines that never did well, posts, wires and all along the fence. Then they were in there nibbling on stuff. When/if I put the Winter fence up around the orchard I put it up rather close to the trees so they don't have jumping room.
In past years, I didn't have too much of a deer problem, they would patronize the farm across the road. However, the past two years, they have discovered my beet/chard garden, and have had a nice salad before continuing on. I only have four 4x16 raised beds, so I use some repellents, and this year two of those sonic things to annoy them. Seems to do the trick. I remember walking the grounds of the place I used to work, and encountering a little fawn with spots about 40 feet away--we stood and admired each other, then he bounced away. Like Judy, it kind of made my day, too.
