It looks like EGee is the one with the wonky antlers this year. We are not sure why, but his trey antlers are branched and this is unusual. In our three years working with the bucks, we haven't seen this variation. One theory is that because of the increase in number of flies this year, he has been using his antlers to scratch and somehow altered their shape by doing so. Any other theories out there?
This photo is from a weird angle and makes his palmation look huge, but it also shows his branched-out trey antlers. Trey antlers are halfway between the brow and the palm and are usually a single prong 5 or 6 inches in length.
The bucks are doing very well this summer. The frequent rains have kept them surrounded by growing green grass and they are enjoying every morsel. Thanks to Emerald and Don Murphy we have our barn almost full of hay bales and expect one more wagon full from Bruce Burt next week.
July is a great time to see their beautiful spotted coats and touch velvet antlers. We continue to be open every Sunday at 2pm and hope to see you at the Reserve soon.
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.
A telephone call last Thursday came from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (www.myfwc.com) who had been searching for some advice on feeding fallow deer on the Net. Of course, because we are on Florida Road, we came up close to the top! Also our interest in feeding the animals is for the sake of the animal, not the venison. We were happy to share our knowledge.
Bambi Ferree, an officer with the Commission, has been charged with looking after a solo male fallow deer who had been found on Florida's Panhandle "on the loose", tranquilized and brought to the Gainesville lab/area for testing about a week ago. She lives closest to the Lab, so she's become an instant deer keeper! Yes, she does get kidded about her name often, especially as she is researching brain wasting disease in white tail deer. If the buck passes all his health tests, he will be adopted, Bambi hopes. Potential adoptees are the family that found him, as no one in Florida USA has reported a missing buck. Because deer don't tend to roam too far away from the place of birth, we assume that he was from the northern part of Florida and kept without permit.
We shared with her the feeding program we have for our bucks which seems to be working well. From her description, "Panhandle" seems to be about the same age as our deer George and EGee. His antlers are in velvet and are about 15 inches in length already.
We are going to keep in touch and hope that Pan gets a good, safe place to live out his days.
Starting Sunday June 1, 2008 we will be opening the gates for drop in visitors at 2pm. It's a good time to see the deer and participate in feeding them...up close and personal.
It's not necessary to make an appointment if you come out on Sundays at 2pm. Please leave any dogs at home as they can unsettle the deer. We have rustic washroom facilities. Those with limited mobility can drive up to the feeding area.
From Kingston, travel north on Highway 38 to Yarker Road, turn left and travel a short distance to Henderson Road, turn left and travel a short distance to Florida Road, turn left and travel south about 3km to 4265.
From Napanee, travel east to Wilton Road (exit 599 from 401) and turn north onto County Road 6, travel north and turn right at Simmons Road. Follow Simmons Road through the village of Wilton, up the graveyard hill until it ends at Florida Road, turn right and follow to 4265.
All the bucks have casted off their antlers as of yesterday when Allan found the 26th and last one dropped by Spike in the afternoon -- all antlers have been found.
So here's this year's order:
Gulliver, April 10
Max, April 14
Dandy, April 15
Mike, April 16
Bash, April 18
Murph, April 19
George, April 22, 23
Buddy, April 25, 26
Ty, April 25
KoKo, April 29
EGee, April 29
Moki, April 29, May 1
Spike, May 3
As male hormones drop, so do the antlers. The bucks become adolescents again, almost fawn-like. They keep close to one another and seem to get along well now that the playing field is level -- no one deer can play leader because he has antlers and the others don't.
Here's a great photo of what George looks like with one antler. We can only imagine how lopsided it feels!
The bucks continue to drop their antlers and so far, we have found them all except for one. And that one belongs to George, his left antler missing in the photo, too.
We have searched high and low without success for the antler that fell on April 22. This is frustrating and surprising in that the very same thing happened last year. We only found one of George's antlers.
Here's the dropping order so far:
Gulliver, April 10
Max, April 14
Dandy, April 15
Mike, April 16
Bash, April 18
Murph, April 19
George, April 22, 23
Max, Apr 14
Max cast off his antlers this morning, and the set were also easy to find. We were a bit worried about difficulties retrieving the antlers at the new site, but so far so good.
In what has become a tradition, Max's antlers will be presented to Don Murphy (President & Founder of Fallow Deer Reserve) as a belated birthday present. In all the excitement, we missed Don' s birthday on April 3.
