Cut some trees and feed some winter deer

Deer gather around fallen tree-tops to feed in the winter

Today was one of those days when another 10 degrees of upward temperature movement would have felt nice, but it was a grand and wonderful day with a lovely sunrise.

It also led to this question. Do deer like the tips of branches to eat? We are getting DISH High Definition so we can better view the playoffs with the Detroit Red Wings over the upcoming weeks.

We were told that six trees had to be toppled to clear a good line of sight for DHD television. Those six trees were toppled a week ago, and now three others need to come down to provide us with the perfect line of sight to the satellite.

Some mature trees had to go

The trees cut down last week already are attracting deer. I went out with the DHD guy as he pinpointed the exact trees to down, and there were deer tracks all around the tree-tops.

The ends of the branches have been nibbled, and some new tops will fall tomorrow or Saturday to add a wee bit more food as the snow melts.

Did I want to cut the trees? Not really. I could see the Red Wing games just fine, and it will be interesting to see how much better the game appears than with regular television.

I watch so little television, other than the Winged Wheels and the Tigers, that one could say I don't watch it. I'd rather waste my vision reading a good book than watching what passes for good television. Most of it is not good at all, and too much of it is awful, and much of it borders or crosses the line on obscenity.

I refuse to insult my intelligence by watching most of the garbage and pap on television. Sure, some of the stuff on the National Geographic channel, the Discovery channel and a few other channels offer programming that suits me, but 99.9 percent of the stuff causes me to hit the "Off" button.

Much of television disgusts me and is insulting

Ah, but I digress. We were talking about deer feeding on tree-tops. We had 101 trees cut last December around my land, and the neighbor had quite a number cut as well. There are deer tracks around those tree-tops. Lots of fresh tracks.

The periodic thinning of mature trees, and their sale for fire wood or for saw logs, can provide some money. Certainly not enough to get fat and sassy on, but perhaps enough to pay the taxes.

Several people have asked to cut wood, and I've granted permission providing they place all the tops from each area into a pile at a place of my choosing. I want the piles placed in strategic locations where they will provide a certain amount of cover and food next winter.

There is nothing worse than walking (or trying to walk) through a recently cut wood lot, and every two or three steps it becomes necessary to extricate your feet from clinging branches of tree-tops. I much prefer they be piled up, and I don't care if the pile is 10 feet tall.

The winter snow, and deer nibbling on the tips will cause them to slowly settle. It provides a nourishing source of food that comes as a direct byproduct of improving our forest.

We provide deer with winter browse in key locations

Briers, brambles, saplings and shrubs will spring up this year as a result of that opening in the woods, and this too will increase the bounty of new food for deer, rabbits, ruffed grouse and other critters.

Bunnies will eat on some of the smaller branches and use the brush piles as cover. Grouse do the same thing, and I've found spots where deer have bedded in the lee of a large brush pile and then pass their time in relative comfort.

My ideal spot for a brush pile is near a small roll in the ground. Most of our storms come from the west, northwest and north although southeast storms occur each winter. A bountiful brush pile on the west, northwest and north edges of a small roll in the ground, and another on the southeast side, will give some protection for winter-weary deer. The food is there, and some evidence I've found indicate that is exactly what the deer did last winter.

So, in some obscure way, DHD television will be instrumental in giving winter deer a spot to get out of the worst of the winter weather, and I think that is a grand use for our new technology.

And, I'll bet you wondered how I'd end tonight's blog.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Slow down, drive defensively, save money, fuel & a deer's life

A tag is needed to keep a car-killed deer.

A buddy called today, and his spring deer report wasn't good. He was shocked by the carnage on Michigan's highways.

He'd driven from near Cadillac down highway M-115 to US-10, and then east to Bay City, down I-75 to Flint and back, all in one day. What he saw over 300 round-trip miles was sad.

He saw deer. Dead dead. Lots and lots of dead deer & other animals.

"There were dead animals everywhere," he said. "Leaving Cadillac, I began counting carcasses and major bloody pieces of pavement where deer and other critters had been hit. There were an incredible number of flattened deer.

"I saw 67 dead deer, coons, possums, and other critters between Cadillac and the US-10 expressway. Many were nothing but bloody lumps of hair and large blood stains. Some deer were hit, and bounced off to the side of the road, and I'd wager there were more deer and other animals that I didn't see."

He said it was equally bad between the M-115 and the US-10 freeway junction, and I-75 at Bay City. He counted well over 60 deer in that stretch. Some were so destroyed by an impact with an 18-wheeler and other vehicles as to be near unrecognizable except for their size.

"There were deer in the median, dead deer on the shoulders, and in two or three places I had to swerve to avoid dead deer in the road. It seems such a tragic waste, but no one appears to be slowing down.

And therein is the problem. The past several nights have been reasonably warm, and deer come up to graze on grasses and weeds growing alongside the highways. People, in their perpetual rush to go somewhere and get there fast, slam into them without much warning.

Most car-deer crashes come without any warning. One must stay alert.

Car-killed deer often litter road-sides.

A friend that lives in the north delivers newspapers after midnight, seven days a week. He killed three deer during the winter months, and had several near misses. Speed in this case was not the cause. The deer often run down driveways in the dark, and bang into his car.

Normally, the deer die in this uneven contest an easily moved animal being hit by a speeding vehicle. Occasionally, deer hurtle up over the hood and through the front windshield. Every year thousands of car-deer accidents occur, and in some cases, humans get injured or killed in these wrecks.

Spring months are almost as deadly as the autumn when rut-crazed deer cross roads without stopping. There are some basic rules for safe driving if only people will heed this advice.

Gas is too costly to waste by driving fast, and speed kills deer & some people.

• Slow down. Besides saving gasoline, which when last I looked, was $4.15 per gallon, and increasing the miles-per-gallon ratio, also would allow more braking time if a deer jumps in front of the vehicle.
• Those "deer crossing" signs erected along state highways serve a greater purpose than as road ornaments to amuse bored drivers. They are placed in certain locations because it is a well-used deer crossing site. Such areas funnel deer movements, and the animals can quickly jump out in front of a vehicle without warning.
• Newly growing grasses and weeds attract feeding deer. Areas where salt has been used also attract deer to road edges. Does, soon to drop this year's fawns, frequent roadsides at night.
• Speed Kills means more than running head-on into another vehicle. Too much speed, and a collision with a deer, is due cause for many accidents and injuries every year. In some cases, the vehicle doesn't have to hit the deer. The driver swerves, misses the animal, and loses control, rolls over, hits a tree or nose-dives into a ditch. All can be hazardous to your health.
• Driving defensively applies as much to deer as it does to watching for stupid drivers who drive too fast, swerve in and out of traffic, and who pay little attention to traffic and road signs. To drive defensively in deer country (which now covers the entire state including the Detroit area) means slowing down, using caution, looking ahead and to both sides of the road for deer eyes that are reflected in the headlights. If one deer crosses the road in front of you, slow down because there often are others coming behind, and beware of the deer that stands transfixed in the headlights. That deer is confused, and may run in any direction.
• Dawn and dusk are key times for high deer movement. However, many deer are hit in broad daylight as well. The defensive driving suggestion applies to daylight hours as well as during the evening.
• Some drivers believe in those little deer whistles that mount on the vehicle's grille. Do they work? It depends on who you talk to, but I don't use them but that doesn't mean you shouldn't.

Follow these tips when driving in deer country.

Car-deer accidents are a fact of life in this and many other states with high deer numbers. Not only is killing the deer a terrible waste (except for feeding crows, eagles and other scavengers), it is very costly. Car insurance rates are high enough without smashing up a vehicle by hitting a deer.

Highway carnage is a problem every year when one or two tons of vehicle meets 100 or more pounds of deer. The impact is predictable in most cases: the deer dies, the vehicle gets busted up, insurance companies whine and raise their rates, and if humans are lucky, no one gets injured or dies in the crash.

Slow down and take it easy in deer country. The life you save may be your own.