This is the moment I’ve been waiting for.  Early this morning I happened to glance out the window to the back field, and there was this very large deer just standing there!  These photos suck, because I didn’t want to startle it by going outside.  So yes, I need to wash windows, but this proves I wasn’t just hallucinating!  The poor deer found itself trapped out in the open between houses, so it ran around until it found the neighbor’s fence, and jumped over it into the woods.

I knew there had to be deer roaming the area, with enough woods and hedgerows for cover, and gardens for food.  We’ve seen them in nearby yards once in a while.  It was just a matter of time until they found their way here.  The yards are very exposed, with more construction going on every day, plus dogs and coyotes, but that never stopped deer.  If there was that herd that came through our suburban NJ yard near NYC in search of food, how could they not be just out of sight in rural TN.  Perhaps the too brief interlude of COVID quarantining brought more of them out in the open, but not for long.

In Maryland (my main home for decades) they were the bane of gardeners’ existence.  The deer population was out of control, because of human encroachment and dwindling predators.  They would eat anything and everything.  Plus they had lots of protected state natural environment areas to roam.  The first question customers at our nursery would ask us is “is it deer-resistant?”, and the answer was “probably not”.  Deer were a constant danger to motorists.  Needless to say, deer-hunting season was big in MD.

Anyway, that’s my big news of the day.  I hope it’s just the beginning of a trend.  If they enjoy my garden, so be it.  That’s the point of native habitat restoration, to provide food, water, and shelter for wildlife.  The wilder, the better.