Sharing our Environment

I've never had much fondness for racoons.  They have wreaked havoc getting into my bird feeders and eating voraciously at the feed blocks I set out for the deer.  On occasion, however, I succumb to how cute these critters can be.

This spring the numbers of racoons seemed especially large.  I'd put out a fresh deer block and it would be nearly gone the next morning.  I knew there were fawns in the area that I wasn't getting the chance to see, so I decided to trap and relocate a few in order to reduce the numbers.  While it didn't completely eliminate the racoons, it did reduce the numbers.

And as soon as I put out a new feed block, I had a visiting doe almost immediately.

It wasn't long before a fawn joined in with sharing the feed block with her mother.

A second fawn joined in the feasting shortly.

At the far end of the feeding area, another doe was watching.  There was a second, longer lasting feed block near her, but she seemed hesitant to join the other deer who were feeding.

At first, I wondered whether one of the fawns could be hers because one of the fawns had briefly joined the loner doe at the second block.

But the question of ownership was cleared up as one of the fawns returned to its mother and began nursing.

It's clear I must share the area with raccoons and other critters, but I most enjoy watching these beautiful deer families.