Deer management (welcome bowhunters!)

We are now taking up arms against the deer. We were hopeful that the deer could be deterred by the improved fence, which now stands at the height of nine feet. Apparently not. This morning I surveyed the new damage with depression and disdain. Over the last two weeks we have regularly shot the deer with our BB gun, but those smug varmints run twenty feet then turn and look as if to say, "That's all you got?" So arriving today in the mail is a slingshot with 3/8" steel ball bearings. The range won't be as long, but with us regularly catching the deer either in the garden or just on the other side of the fence, range isn't the problem. The deer are so accustomed to people that I have been wildly screaming and waving my arms trying to shoo them away and have gotten as close as ten feet before they mosey away. Hopefully getting whacked in the head with a steel ball will hurt enough to change their territory.

But, I've also been researching deer management programs that come to your property to eradicate the deer population. I emailed the Suffolk Archers and Bowhunters Club, located on Long Island, that advertises their Land Owners Assistance Program. We are a bit of a distance from LI, but they are still willing to research our property and at the very least, send up some hunters in October for deer season. In the meantime, I will be actively pursuing a nuisance permit that allows eradication throughout the year, though the state is apparently pretty stingy on granting these to regular landowner as opposed to commercial farms. Maybe I can start selling homegrown veggies in our local delis and farmer's markets!

Either way, the deers' days are numbered.