The Sun Will Return, Eventually

As I stumbled around in the dark this morning feeding cattle and chickens, I take heart in knowing that the winter solstice has passed and each day gives us one more minute of light. We gain about 30 minutes of light a month, so by the first of February I should be able to see what I'm doing. I'm always a little worried about being run over by deer. Amazingly, I've been brushed by them twice, just at twilight, as they ran through the pastures and once as I was walking to the barn in the dark. I think my scent is so much a part of the landscape now that they don't bother to shy away from me.

Caught on a deer cam mounted in the woods.

We are, like everyone else, over run with deer. There was a line of  men in the feed store yesterday waiting to buy corn to feed the deer in an effort to keep the deer from eating all their shrubbery.  I am not sure that this is the best way to keep them away. I suggest, in cover of dark, that these men all walk around their property urinating. I know a lot of men are reluctant to do such a thing, but truthfully, this works.  They should repeat the process every few days.


A buck caught on deer cam

In the spring I have to watch out for bucks who are guarding cows calving or with just new born calves. That's beef cattle, not female deer. I'll be walking through the woods hunting a cow that I know has probably calved, or is in process, and suddenly I'll hear stamping and hissing and about 100 yards from the cow will be a big buck standing guard. I'm always a little afraid that he will attack me, so I skirt around behind and come up to the cow as far away from the buck as possible. All the time I'm working with the cow, I'm keeping an eye open for the buck. When they realize I'm not going to cause any harm, they usually leave.