Andrew, the ever-alert guard dog / sheltie was the first to see them. He dashed to the bedroom door and danced around barking. The two does who were grazing Sally's flowers down to roots bolted right through the netting we had put up around the back yard as soon as I opened the door to go out. I couldn't believe the mesh didn't even slow them down although one arched her head back gracefully as she passed through the fabric.
They of course had been there for some time and had visited our precious vegetable garden at length, taking out row after row of lettuce, radishes, and corn. Mark Carion tells me they are pregnant this time of year and thus more choosy, wanting to feed their babies only the best. Shastina becomes a drive-thru deli under these circumstances, my Armor-All garden notwithstanding.
During the post mortem Sally and I discovered two places they might have slipped in. One is a tree that I went around with the netting which was so close to our existing 3 foot fence that I didn't feel it was necessary to bring the netting down to the ground. That (see photo at top) is now remedied.
The other possible point of entry is this gate which, before its medieval makeover, was actually presentable and is by the way almost exactly 13 feet from our bed. Surely we'd hear these heavy does launch over it, right? I have never been a hunter myself but the motto "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em" is suddenly becoming more relevant at this moment in my life. Sally drew this to my attention when I noticed her browsing the web for venison recipes yesterday.
But out in the woods the other day I almost stepped on this fawn and well, jeez.
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