Another loss

At about 2pm yesterday afternoon we discovered Gulliver lying in a cedar grove away from the others. At first it looked as if he had injured his front leg and Allan went into the enclosure to see if he could get him to stand up. When he did, we saw that he had been gored in the lower abdomen and a grapefruit-sized portion of his bowels was hanging outside his body. In the shadows we did not see much blood and shortly after standing up, he lay down again with the wound hidden by the earth.

During the past week, the deer were losing their velvet and each one's newest set of "hard" antlers emerged. On Sunday we had observed Max and Bash and then Max and Moki fighting and heard the sound of hard antler on hard antler. We knew that Gulliver was not a fighter, but possibly had been caught by the sharp brow antler of others who are. We will never know just how he came to receive such a serious injury.

We called the vet, Dr. Brian Willows, who asked us to describe the colour and size of the material. He told us that any efforts we would make to try to save his life would be heroics for us, but not for him. There was no doubt that infection from such an injury would occur and cause a slow and painful death even if field surgery were attempted.

We called Don Murphy at work and talked it over with him. He also talked to the vet. We all decided that Gulliver deserved a quick and painless death, and that meant asking someone to put him out of his misery with a bullet. I called upon my neighbour, Bob Bird, who did not hesitate to offer his help.

Allan took Bob to the place where Gulliver lay. I stayed under the maple tree where we have spent so many hours with the herd and they with us. Several of the deer were lying on the ground near me in the shade. At 3:30pm I heard one loud retort. The deer jumped and ran into the woods as far away from the gunshot as they could go.

Gulliver was shot in the cedar grove with a single bullet to his head. He was looking at Allan who thinks that he did not see Bob nor his gun.

Don arrived and we shared some moments with Gulliver's beautiful body. One of our largest and oldest deer, he was the one who escaped from the Scotland Road farm during testing and had been on the lam for about 6 weeks. Don and Wendy spent hours trying to lure him back to the farm and finally accomplished the feat with apples, corn and headlights. After the fence at the Reserve was cut in November 2008, Gulliver was one of the deer who followed Don into the enclosure, returning to this home by his own free will, without need of dramatic capture.

With Don's help we took Gulliver's body to the deer burial ground. With the backhoe, Don dug a deep place. By sunset, Gulliver was lying safely in the earth beside Ty and Dandy.

We are grateful to Bob Bird of Wilton for coming to assist Gulliver at a moment's notice and for his skill and kindness.

An email from Jason, antler lover

We just received this email from Jason C. in Chatham, Ontario. Jason has purchased Gulliver's antlers every year for three years and also Murph's antlers for the past two years. By purchasing these antlers, he has supported the work of the Reserve and we appreciate his taking the time to let us know how much he enjoys these unique pieces of art created by our bucks.

I received the package last night. All looks great. I am really surprised the tines on the Gulliver antler, how they are long at the ends and kind of a cluster and twisted. I really enjoy the uniqueness of each antler. I wish I could fill my house with them. My wife might have other ideas. I was looking at the park in Quebec with all the Red Deer, moose, bear etc on the internet and it looks awesome, I really want to go. Have you been there? Do the animals come up to the vehicles as it shows in the website photos? I noticed they talk about fallow deer at this park, are some of them from your place? I would want to stop by your place also if I were going to go to this park.

...Well, as usual keep me in mind next year again. If anything else comes up you think I would be interested in, please let me know.

Thanks alot for all the antlers and years of enjoyment I will get from them.

Take care and talk to you soon

Fellow Canadian -- Jason C. and family

Antler sweepstakes winner!

Gulliver won the lottery again this year dropping his left antler at some time early this morning. When we checked him this afternoon, he was still holding on to his right antler.

Here is the list from 2008. The warmer weather this year has prompted the casting of Gulliver's antler four days earlier than last. We believe that the oldest buck casts off his antlers first, needing more time for the full rack to develop and harden by August in time for rutting season. By this list, Spike is our baby. Status in the herd may also affect the order that the antlers fall, who knows?

Gulliver, April 10
Max, April 14
Mike, April 16
Bash, April 18
Murph, April 19
George, April 22, 23
Buddy, April 25, 26
KoKo, April 29
EGee, April 29
Moki, April 29, May 1
Spike, May 3

Breakfast Winter Mornings

Winter mornings -- cold temperatures and lots of snow... this is the pattern of this month at the Reserve. Fortunately we have a dedicated deer keeper in Allan Park who shows up every morning at daybreak to check on the bucks, make sure their water is ice-free, feed them hay, and make sure no animal is missing or injured. Each animal gets plenty of fresh hay because it is spread out and available to all.

In the lower picture you can see KoKo enjoying the mineral lick that provides the bucks with essential vitamins and minerals and the blue salt lick is in the foreground.

The biggest natural hazard seems to be ice. Gulliver was limping earlier this week probably from a fall but in a day or two he was back to normal.

Gulliver is back home!

Early this morning Gulliver decided he was ready to follow Don in through the gate and join his eight other buck buddies. This is great news for two boys in France who along with their grandmother are his sponsors.

Please do not go to the Reserve if you wish to help us. Volunteers are asked to go to 604 Simmons Road to meet and find out what help is required.

We are doing everything we can to encourage the deer to come back to the Reserve so we can lead them into the enclosure without having to use tranquilizer guns or large numbers of people.

These deer are confused. Max, their leader, did not leave the enclosure. It will take all the patience we can muster to get them home again.

Our present count...9 bucks in, 4 buck out.

Velvet gone

Gulliver "thrashing"

Gulliver, losing velvet

The end of August marked the shedding of the velvet on the bucks' antlers. For a few days only, they were a sight, but not for long. They rub the velvet on low lying branches to help to get rid of the strands of velvet as quickly as possible. Testosterone levels are increasing and the bucks are becoming a bit more aggressive these days now that they all have hard antlers. These hard antlers will remain until next spring.

Open Gate, Sunday, June 22, 2008

Bash greets Roland

Gulliver (r) greets Diane

At yesterday's Open Gate, Gulliver had a chance to say hello to his co-sponsor, Diane, who dropped by just before she heads to France to visit her twin grandsons, Alexandre and Edouard, who join her as co-sponsors of Gulliver.

A group from Ongwanada also joined us to help with feeding the deer, as well as a father and his two sons, Gilbert and Roland.

Our First Cast Off

The first to cast off his antlers, oh so 2007, was Gulliver. This was at about 10 or 11am this morning and we are happy to report that we have found both. They are wider and about 2 or 3 inches longer than last year, when Gulliver also won the antler sweepstakes and dropped those first on April 8.

However, being first is not all it's cracked up to be. Without antlers, poor Gulliver is getting bullied by the others who still have theirs, and he had decided to separate from the herd and hang out in the forest near the spring creek. We found him there this afternoon and gave him his own special carrot nosh.

If last year's order is repeated, Max will be joining him in this self-imposed exile within the next 48 hours.

The same but different

When people visit the Reserve, they always express surprise that we can identify the individual deer. Aside from KoKo who is easy to recognize given his chocolate colour, at first sight the rest of the deer look very alike.

Having worked with the bucks for over 19 months, we know that each one is quite different and unique in both appearance and personality.

Here's how we tell them apart.

Max, the leader, is a large deer with one of the largest sets of antlers and a golden colour especially on his head and back of neck. He often stands in the middle of the herd, but never gets challenged by other bucks. (A challenge is when a deer lowers his head and antlers and moves towards another in a determined way. Sometimes the deer will tilt his head and show one eye to the other deer. )

Dandy, is usually the second in command. He is probably the largest deer in body size but his antlers don't have the wide palmation of the other large deer. He is very calm.

Mike is next in herd hierarchy but sometimes he vies with Dandy to gain status to second. He looks quite a bit like Max and has large antlers. However, his right brow antler is bent over his right eye in an odd way caused by a collision with a barricade when the deer were being moved to Florida from Scotland Road in May last year. Mike is very social towards people. We hope his antlers return to normal this year.

Gulliver is another large deer with the largest palmation of antlers. He seems to be the big brother of Moki (one of our youngest and smallest) who is a constant companion. Gulliver will often let Moki "play fight/challenge" with him but never exerts the full power he could if the fight were for real. Gulliver likes to chase smaller deer at feeding time, doing his best to get all the food for himself, but he never challenges a deer that is larger than himself.

Murph is a large deer with exceptionally long antlers with good palmation and many spellers (or branches). He has a dark coat, but not quite as dark as KoKo. He is very independent and spends time away from the herd on his own. He is not that interested in people...can take or leave 'em.

Bash is a large light-coloured deer with large antlers that have many spellers and very straight brow antlers. He, too, is somewhat independent and will leave the herd to go on his own. He likes to bully Buddy who is also light-coloured. Bash used to be very frightened of people, but he is becoming very social these days.

Ty has a compact body, a muddy brown colour and very wide palmated antlers with many spellers. Like Bash, he was very fearful of people when we first started working with the herd, now he doesn't seem too worried by us. He never challenges large deer for food or water, but bullies all the other deer the same size or smaller than him.

Buddy is a medium-sized light coloured deer. His brow antlers turn inward instead of straight ahead which gives him a slightly cock-eyed, cute appearance. His personality is carefree and he's very curious about people and what they are doing whether it be building a shelter, digging or hauling water. He will run away from food to get a good view of human beings at work.

EGee is a medium-sized deer with shorter palmated antlers, few spellers and long straight brow antlers. He has a dark brown winter coat with a splash of white on his right side where he was injured last winter. He is very social and calm and only occasionally will he bully George or KoKo at feeding time to get in the best position.

George looks like the other medium-sized deer in appearance except for his antlers this year which have little or no palmation. Our theory is that this odd antler formation was caused by the anti-inflammatory medication he was given last winter after suffering a "shoulder" injury. We hope that his antlers return to normal this year. George is definitely the most social of the deer and he can be a nuisance if you are working inside the fence as he has no fear of people and will invade human space quite easily.

KoKo is our most recognizable deer because he is very dark in colour and even in summer he has very faint "spots" on his chocolate-coloured back. He has a compact, you might say round body and he is very social and calm. He is the one most likely to be hanging out in the shelter of the woods rather than the person-made shelter attached to the barn. He seems to like to hang out with Ty or Buddy.

Moki is one of our youngest at 3 years of age. His antlers are palmated but smaller than all the other deer (except for Spike). His right brow antler bends to the right and this winter he lost the top of his left ear as a result of a tussle with Spike towards the end of the rut.

Spike is the other 3 year old with antlers similar to those of Moki. He is the only deer in our herd with a brown tail which makes him a "menil" fallow deer. Spike is social and curious and likes to hang out with George and fight with Moki.

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver is a large deer with huge antlers and whitish colouring on the underbelly and legs. He has an expressive face with white circles around each eye and white "teardrops". His brow tines are quite straight without curves and lately he has developed a patch of black fur between his eyes.

During testing of the entire 100+ herd in April, Gulliver decided that farm life was not for him. He had demonstrated his jumping skills by clearing an inside fence (at least 10 feet high) and presumably discovered how to jump the outside fence. For several weeks he roamed the fields adjacent to the deer farm enclosure and eluded all efforts to encourage him to come back. Hence, his name, Gulliver. On June 1, 2006 he was reunited with his buck buddies following a late night manoever involving Don, Wendy, corn, a light and a truck. For awhile, he was not happy being "home" and blamed all humans for this.

With daily feedings of apples, carrots or corn, he has settled into reserve life and he is now very social, yet still somewhat complex and unpredictable. He sometimes goes off "in a huff" but no other deer follows him. During feeding, he will sometimes be bullied by other deer and, in return, he bullies the two small deer, Spike and Moki, but not too seriously.