The General Chat Thread (2026)

Barriehie said:
Is there water close by?
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Only a bird bath in our yard, but she could reach it if she wanted. If she comes back tomorrow I'll find a bucket or something for her. The Tuscarawas River runs through that park across the street though, so if she leaves tonight she'll undoubtedly go to the park, which is likely where she was born.

Edit: there's also two ponds over there. It's about 90 acres in that park.
 
Well she moved...closer to our back deck. She was watching me feed the squirrels and the groundhog. I don't know what's going on, hope shes not injured. But was was making eye contact with me and I was talking to her, her ears flapped back n forth...
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Well she moved...closer to our back deck. She was watching me feed the squirrels and the groundhog. I don't know what's going on, hope shes not injured. But was was making eye contact with me and I was talking to her, her ears flapped back n forth...
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Maybe get a bucket of water too when you get the corn.
 
Deer will also stay put in an area that provides them with plenty of food and where they feel safe. Essentially, they will do what your doe is doing - find a comfortable place to lay down and stay there until they want to eat or need to go to the bathroom etc. Leave her be and she will find her own way, if she leaves it will be because she no longer feels safe.

We get a lot of deer in our back yard and have seen (watched) many do what your doe is doing.
 
If she’s just chilling and doesn’t appear to be in distress, I would just keep an eye out. Fun fact: Deer are really common in suburban areas, because they are adapted to live in areas around forest edges. Fragmented bits of forest (parks) in developed areas have lots of edges, and so deer thrive. This is also why you don’t get moose in the city: they’re more adapted to live in large, continuous areas of forest, and they don’t coexist super well with deer. Deer carry a brainworm that isn’t particularly harmful to them, but is fatal to moose. So they don’t really live together in the same areas.

My previous employer was located in an area with a fair number of forested parks around it, and we used to see deer all the time. I kind of miss them (I now work in a very dense urban area without deer, although there are certainly lots of raccoons!)
 
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Herbaceous said:
If she’s just chilling and doesn’t appear to be in distress, I would just keep an eye out. Fun fact: Deer are really common in suburban areas, because they are adapted to live in areas around forest edges. Fragmented bits of forest (parks) in developed areas have lots of edges, and so deer thrive. This is also why you don’t get moose in the city: they’re more adapted to live in large, continuous areas of forest, and they don’t coexist super well with deer. Deer carry a brainworm that isn’t particularly harmful to them, but is fatal to moose. So they don’t really live together in the same areas.

My previous employer was located in an area with a fair number of forested parks around it, and we used to see deer all the time. I kind of miss them (I now work in a very dense urban area without deer, although there are certainly lots of raccoons!)
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Racoons are a pita!
 
Herbaceous said:
If she’s just chilling and doesn’t appear to be in distress, I would just keep an eye out. Fun fact: Deer are really common in suburban areas, because they are adapted to live in areas around forest edges. Fragmented bits of forest (parks) in developed areas have lots of edges, and so deer thrive. This is also why you don’t get moose in the city: they’re more adapted to live in large, continuous areas of forest, and they don’t coexist super well with deer. Deer carry a brainworm that isn’t particularly harmful to them, but is fatal to moose. So they don’t really live together in the same areas.

My previous employer was located in an area with a fair number of forested parks around it, and we used to see deer all the time. I kind of miss them (I now work in a very dense urban area without deer, although there are certainly lots of raccoons!)
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Oh I've seen plenty of deer in our yard over the past few decades, usually at dusk, and I've seen their tracks in the snow many times, even on our back deck, which is 2 steps up from the ground level yard. This is the 1st time one has ever laid down in our yard and stayed, however. She's been there over 12 hours!
 
Barriehie said:
Maybe get a bucket of water too when you get the corn.
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I've decided not to feed her if she's here to give birth. She will move her baby soon after I think. We live on a busy road, and though our spacious back yard is lushly wooded and is a nice sanctuary, she's undoubtedly from that 90 acre park across the street and I don't want to risk her crossing coming back, especially with her baby, at a later date.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I've decided not to feed her if she's here to give birth. She will move her baby soon after I think. We live on a busy road, and though our spacious back yard is lushly wooded and is a nice sanctuary, she's undoubtedly from that 90 acre park across the street and I don't want to risk her crossing coming back, especially with her baby, at a later date.
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Good idea!
 
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