Hiding 101

Eats shoots and leaves

The bucks explore their new home

Fallow Deer Reserve, Florida Road, Saturday, May 26, 2007, 7pm

Mission Accomplished?

From left to right David, Andy, Joe, Bruce, Allan, Jane, Don, Wendy, Paul and Sue

The fallow deerkeepers are happy to announce that the deer have arrived safely in their new home as of 2:30pm this afternoon.

Many, many thanks to the crew who worked so hard today...Don, Wendy, David, Trish, Andy, Joe, Paul, Sue, Tony, Bruce, Jane & Allan. Special thanks to Dr. Brian Willows (Thousand Island Vets) who was present for the loading and the release of the deer.

And, of course, we thank all of you who have helped with this "final" phase of the Fallow Deer Project, the preparation of the old and new sites so that the move from Scotland Road to Florida Road could take place while the deer were in the early velvet stage of antler development. No deer or person was injured! After the deer came into the paddock area to eat medicated feed and chill for 2 hours, the dangerous loading process took 15 minutes -- thanks to great teamwork, the careful planning of Don and Allan, wise counsel of Brian Willows and patience, patience, patience.

PS Trish Forrest sent us these great photos.

Much Ado about Everything

From left to right Murph, Don, David and Joe.

Much has been accomplished since our last posting. Bernie Sagriff and his drilling crew jackhammered the last fence post hole on Saturday, May 5. The huge wire 8 foot fencing was delivered in the same week and was unrolled in 330 foot chunks with a special spool attached to Murph's tractor, suggested by Joe Barnard, designed and built by Don Murphy (see photo above). It works like a charm. If all goes well, we’ll be moving the deer very soon. Thanks to volunteers who worked hard the past two weekends to stretch and wire almost 2000 feet of fencing: Don, Allan, Murph, Joe, Paul, Duncan, Colin, Jen, Aaron, David, Brian, Wendy and Jane. We have about 700 feet to go.

As you may know the fallow deer bucks have shed their antlers and we are busy collecting them. Click on “Antler Auction” in the right hand column to get the specifics about Gulliver's antlers. We have raised over $260 so far from the sale of these antlers. Available as of today are pairs of antlers from Buddy, Bash, Dandy and Mike. Single antlers from KoKo and EGee are also available.

If you are interested in purchasing a pair of antlers, please let us know as soon as possible. We can send you photos of the antlers and measurements, etc. if you need more information. We are suggesting a minimum of $75 per pair but everything is negotiable.

On Friday, May 11, 2007 we received official notice from Canada Revenue that we have been granted charitable status and can now issue income tax receipts to you for your financial donations. This was supposed to take 4 or 6 months. We are delighted that it took us less than two months. Good timing, good luck.

Fallow Deer Reserve is now registered as a charity in Canada because it benefits the community by preventing cruelty to animals through the operation of a safe, permanent and natural shelter for the lifetime of rescued fallow deer.

We issue tax receipts for any donation of $5.00 or more.

Wendy and Jane "manned" information and yard sale tables at the Wilton Women's Institute Sale on May 12th and raised some awareness as well as money. Thanks to Monique, Deb, Sue, Wendy and others I don't know about who donated baking, rummage and time to this venture. It was great for us to meet some of you who actually read this blog! Please don't be shy...leave comments.