The path along the west side of the property shoots along a line of predominantly willow trees, but there’s also some currents, a couple apple trees, two almond trees, some scraggy pines, and a lot of “twitch grass.” It’s the longest path that they use at 300 feet running north/south. The property line here is marked by a neighbor’s low, not 100% maintained old barbwire fence line. It’s not great, but I’m not yet aware of deer having problems with it. I’ve seen them jump it at low spots and there’s at least one open spot I know of.
The Paddocks
This west side path leads to two old paddocks, formerly fenced plots used by 30 chickens. The paddocks were connected to a 24 foot completely enclosed “run,” so the hens could rotate through the locations. Now, there are only 3 hens, and the paddocks are fully open, but there’s still some fencing to come down. Summer 2021 was the first year of the paddock “rehab.” Center photo above was the start of this year’s clover growing in: red, crimson, and white. I threw a bunch of old garden seed into the mix, too, all annuals. It was fun to see random beets and spinach come up in the clover; an oddball squash took root and covered enough of the hen’s fenced run to shade them, and the deer ate the little squashes, and of course the clover.
This year, the clover and orchard grass came back well, along with masses of catnip. But then… when the doe brought the newborn fawn here, she used the paddocks to hide it in. I was unable to mow or weed whack for a few critical weeks of early summer. Lower left photo above gives a little sense of the start of that. Some catnip was 5 foot, the nettles were 7. The deer made excellent use of this spot.
Above, some hidey-holes and paths in the paddocks, used and made by the deer. Do they paw up some of the bedding spots on purpose or just because they have hooves?
Doe in large left photo is on the outside of the fenced chicken run, just ahead of the deer in the upper center pic. Those two deer are on the paths that lead out of the paddocks to the “shade garden” patio area and then on into the back yard and the river. BUT. The deer in the photo are going the opposite way this tour is headed. Hence the yellow arrow. Hoop house, bottom center, is next to where the deer are walking and has more permeable fencing on it. Just beyond the hoop house is the little patio area next to the house.
Shade Garden / Patio
All the deer photos below were taken from inside the house, out a bank of windows visible in the top center photo. The doe in that photo is coming across the patio slab toward an always open gate and has her ears fastened forward so intently because she’s heard her fawn call. I wouldn’t have caught that without these windows.
The fawn smelling up the patio furniture in center lower pic has a mini-story. First, that particular fawn was noticeably more cautious about life than his/her twin. And it was “slower,” it seemed, in catching on. And maybe a tad smaller. Long after the twin romped around browsing on its own, the chair sniffer stuck with mom, and mom was clearly still “teaching.” In the above photo extracted from a video, the other twin had already examined the chair and walked off. The pictured twin wanted very much to smell those chair arms but did NOT want to get any closer to the chair. Hence the funny stance. It didn’t want to be any closer than necessary. These little guys lick and smell everything in their world to learn what it is. Arrows in inset pic with the #9 on it show three paths that can be used to exit the patio to the back yard and one that leads back to the paddocks.
And that’s it. That’s the place. Next come the deer and their stories…
Next Post: The O.G. Arrives
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