Last year I counted 12 deer in my backyard at one time, this year I counted 15, seems they are multiplying pretty quickly. The number of deer would be understandable if our home backed up to a gigantic forest but we only have an 80 acre public park behind us and apparently the coyotes we're always being warned about are too small to take the deer down.
Fact: Minnesota has 900,000 deer and prior to the wolf hunt and predator control killings which resulted in some 600+ dead wolves, we had about 3000 wolves in the wild.
I'd give my right arm to live in wolf country right now.
Today I found my brand new North Star Cherry tree (plum full of cherries two days ago) half eaten by deer. Previous to the buffet had by those annoying pests my neighbor tried to get me to spray the tree with this stinky concoction of rotten eggs and coyote urine to protect it but like a fool I opted to let it be because I was hoping to eat the cherries once they ripened. BIG MISTAKE! I should have sprayed the tree this year just to give it a chance to grow large enough so that the deer couldn't reach the branches in the future.
All I can say is that I'm a slow learner. I have two 3 year old apple trees that haven't produced a single fruit, thanks to our deer. One is finally reaching a point in its growth that the deer are no longer able to reach the branches but the other looks in need of a funeral.
So... wish me luck on saving what is left of our little tree. My husband has made an attempt this evening to protect it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If there's nothing left tomorrow we'll know it didn't work :(
Deer devoured the left side of tree
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