Would you feed the deer where you live?

I just saw a feature in the local news last night about deers coming into populated areas. That aside from carrying diseases, they also could pose a threat to some small pets in a neighborhood. I know they are nice to look at, but I would rather see them in the wild, fending for themselves, or in a supervised zoo. I wouldn't feed them myself.

I don't get alot of deer where I live, but we do get skunk and racoons. If I did get deer I might be tempted to feed them, but I would be a bit apprehesive, because once you start feeding wild animals, a couple here and there can become 4 or 5, then 6 or 8, and so on. I learned that the hard way by feeding wild geese!

I don't feed the deer out of my hands but I have been planting plants and putting stuff on the ground for them. Sometimes I can have as many as 8 deer on my land and I love watching them. They just have this kind of grace about them whether they're running or just walking.

We live in town and have deer come into our front yard at night. They eat the bird seed. I had some apples, so I put them out with the bird seed. They went uneaten. I cut the apples up into bite sized pieces and the next morning, they were all gone. So every once in a while I will put out cut up apples, sometimes I even remove the seeds. I bought a bag of deer food and a bowl for them to eat it out of. They really liked it. My brother-in-law told me to spread the food out around the yard so that the deer eat in different spots, that if they're all eating in one spot that can spread chronic wasting disease. We had 8 deer in our front yard at one time. We ran out of the deer food, so I went back to the store and all they had was a deer block, which was full of corn and seeds, nothing that was really nutritious for them, but it was all they had. They've been picking at it. For a while there they were coming every night and had gotten so comfortable that they were coming at 9 or 10pm! They're not coming as often, I worry that they've been killed off by hunters or hit by cars. I have to tell you, it is an absolutely AMAZING sight to see 8 deer in your front yard.

Wow, people can actually get bags of deer food?! What's in it? Is it like kibble? Actually, it is not a good idea to feed any kind of wildlife, including deer; not only because it can blur their survival instinct, but it can also make them what is known as a 'nuisance deer'. In other words, if they know where they can find food, they will keep returning and eating everything -- gardens, trash, venture over to your neighbor's yards who may not be so happy to see them eating their prize rose bush. Deer also have sensitive stomachs. Some human scraps could be like poison to them. I worked and lived in a national park for a few years and deer were everywhere. Of course, we had our favorites, even named them. And yes, we'd sneak them apples and carrots on occasion, but they say "Do not feed the wildlife", because in winter when all the concessions are shut down, there is no one there to sneak them food, so it is important the animals rely on their instincts to search out food and survive on their own with no human intervention.

My family feeds deer, only in cold winter months. We have a couple apple trees about 300 yards away from our house by the tree line of our field. We will walk out there once a week to feed them. Its nice to have them around. We own 250 acres and we don't allow hunting unless my father wants to, but he hasn't in years. This way the deer and many other animals come to our property to be safe. When ever the deer come through you will see turkey come in right behind them. Its nice to watch them. They are always here early in the morning and towards nightfall when the suns going down. If you were to start feeding your deer, just do it during the winter but not everyday. You don't want them to focus only on what you give them and not hunt for themselves. We had that happen one year, where he stayed and would not leave. He would come all the way over to our porch and stand there waiting for more food. That's why we only feed them once a week. I hope you can keep enjoying them out in your back yard.

oh I wish...how cool is that, I live in the suburbs of Melbourne so all I get to feed is birds, I would love to have animals to feed or I would even settle for prettier birds...she is very lucky

i would love too, i wish we had deers here.. sucks how we only get cats and dogs here and they are very much scared of us lol

Hi, shaggin. I have seen many deers run across the main roads when I am in a car. I have never thought about feeding them then. But if we had a yard where deers can come into, I will make sure that I will leave some food out for it. I also think that it is very sweet when a person can feed a deer. They may be animals but they are still something that God has created too.

No, I wouldn't. I do enjoy looking at deer, but I also realize they may carry disease, fleas, and ticks. Since I have pets, I'd rather keep the deer away from my yard and house. I'd probably put up a fence to keep the deer out.

Don't have deer here in my residential neighborhood. But if we did, I would buy and put food out only in the winter time. They can manage quite well during the warmer months. I live in a city on a river which is between my city and a larger one. The river is in flood and the deer in the bottom lands are going to higher ground and trying to cross a major highway. They're getting hit by the highway traffic and it's causing major problems.

I have never seen deer near where I live, but I do know that the state forest which borders my town is full of them. I would never attempt to feed them though as they are a pest. They are becoming a massive problem here in Australia in certain areas. They are destroying the vegetation and taking food away from native animals as well as causing car accidents and wrecking peoples fences. A decade or so ago, deer farming became popular, so people started breeding them. When the industry lost its momentum though, these farmers just let the animals loose and now they are running wild and breeding like rabbits. (another pest that should never have been brought here). There is talk of a mass cull of the deer now to control them. I am torn as to whether I agree with this or not. I do not want to see any animal killed, but I also do not want to see native Australian animals and environments suffer either.

I live in a country where deer are a lot of. They often run on the roads, creating accidents or causing damage to our cars. Of course they come into our yards and eat our fruit trees,deep snow in the woods they have nothing to eat. If we feeding deer, then only inthe forest feeders, certainly is nice to see how she eats, but they do big damage.. we can't remeber this. Of course we hunt deer, eat and use their skin. Is it pity? Yes, but there are many more a pity if the family suffers a car accident need too much pay....

i wish i could see a deer in our backyard. they only live in the forest ... we are in the city. i feed dogs instead, whether ours or our neighbors or just stray dogs.