Mudyy ...
I have come to think that feeding deer is not always kindness. In spite of having my garden close to being destroyed by one doe because of a break in my deer fence, I recognize she was doing just what deer do ... eat.
Up here, the town deer herd is just too large and will never be culled by hunting. Many of them have been born and raised in town and don't have the common deer sense of how to forage naturally. Nor do they really understand that there really are predators that think of them as FOOD.
Because they are easy prey, the big cats, cougars, do come to town.
I have seen starving deer, injured deer and even stopped to pull a dead deer off of the road where someone had hit it with their vehicle. During the worse years of the drought, there were reports of a lot of dead deer by those who live just out of town due to disease and lack of forage.
It's not like civilization is taking away their habitat. 75% of this county is owned by the Federal government and is totally undeveloped. In fact, there is very little development up here. It's just that the town deer don't have the deer skills to live in the back country. There are plenty of deer out there and that is where hunting is allowed.
There are no monetary resources to cull the town deer herd, so they are more of a problem than I would have never imagined would be possible.
Feeding the deer in town would just make the problem worse.
Yes, I do think they are beautiful animals, but I don't think it is always a kindness to feed the deer.
