My deer haven

I live on 20 acres of forest land sloping gently to the north in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada – along with plenty of visiting wildlife, including foxes, coyotes, ravens and crows, lots of deer and the occasional bear and moose.

This year the deer have prevailed, after I cleared som 1+ kilometres of track though the dense undergrowth in July of last year. That following having multiple visits from two grizzly bears in August of 2020, resulting in the death of two of my German Shepherd dogs.

This has resulted in my property becoming a haven for local deer, with easy access to a farmers’ field to the east with plenty of feed to munch on, while retaining an ideal shelter in my now semi open bushland with high speed escape lanes provided.

So, this winter, instead of seeing untouched white snow in the bush, I’m out walking on a deer highway on my snowshoes, judging by all the tracks permeating the lanes.

During my clearing operations in 2021, I also came across two old bear skulls in the bush, indicating that this was a popular area with wildlife before my time.

On the positive side, the deer have saved my having to prune my rather extensive raspberry patch this fall but that came with a price:
A ‘hunter’ sitting in his truck on my subdivision road, took a shot at me in my yard early in the morning, likely seeing movement through the trees and figuring it was a deer.

So now I have posted “no hunting” signs along that road and have a bright light in my yard 24/7.

On reflection, the most dangerous animal on the landscape walks on two legs, and mostly sits in a truck, too lazy to get his arse into gear and do some real hunting.