[Leica] IMG: Friday Flower and a note about deer.

[ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter)]

almost pineappleish

ric

On Apr 2, 2010, at 12:24 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> Our daffodils have just emerged, about two weeks late, and haven't reached
> the stage of photographic excellence. So here is a picture of a 
> rhododendron
> bloom from a pervious year. It may well be the last rhododendron flower for
> some time. The very hard winter and the recent storm ruined most of our
> bushes. I had to cut down a dozen tree sized half century old plants with a
> chain saw because the weight of the last heavy snow broke the trunks.
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Rhododendron.jpg.html
> 
> Of course the deer didn't help either. The area is overrun with Bambi
> clones. While attractive in the abstract, deer eat everything that grows
> except for a few untasty plants (andromeda, daffodils, irises). Most home
> owners consider them 150 lb. rats. There are now more deer in New York 
> state
> than there were when the first settlers appeared. Wolves and black bears
> have been largely eliminated. Farmers no longer need to shoot deer to
> provide meat for the winter table. It is against the law in the state to
> hunt deer most of the year or to even discharge a rifle within 500 feet of 
> a
> home, barn, or even outhouse. Some counties entirely ban the use of 
> firearms
> to hunt deer. The biggest predator for deer is the automobile.
> 
> Deer prefer to live in the edge of a wooded area. They graze on the cleared
> land and retreat back to the forest if harm threatens. Homeowners provide
> plenty to eat with ornamental plantings. A full grown deer will consume 20
> to 25 lb. a day. The deer population is so great that many don't get enough
> to eat. Coupled with a hard winter they become weak and emaciated, hence 
> the
> thin deer in my recent post. There is apparently no wasting disease in the
> Hudson Valley, just plain hunger. The weaker ones become prey for coyotes
> which have migrated as far south as New York City. The deer no longer shun
> built up areas and apparently have lost their fear of people. We have a
> small herd of five does and a buck which sleep in an overgrown wooded area
> behind our house, sometimes even in our front lawn. I even have a video of
> my wife hitting one across the nose with a folded newspaper to chase it 
> away
> from her begonias.
> 
> I can think of only two solutions. Import wolves and black bears. There 
> used
> to be plenty of those a couple of hundred years ago. The big park across 
> the
> river is named Bear Mountain State Park. Or we can eat more venison - much
> more.
> 
> Larry Z
> 
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