A reader named Ryan sent us this picture of a deer wandering brazenly around Ridgewood Avenue in Glen Ridge last night around 7:15 pm. This deer is so close to the front door, it practically looks like he's going trick or treating!
Deer sightings used to be rare on streets this far from Eagle Rock or Mills Reservation, but they've become increasingly common. Bernard Wallerstein, a master gardener for Essex County, says he's had to completely change his Llewellyn Park landscaping due to deer proliferation in recent years.
Wallerstein says deer love to eat day lilies, hosta, impatiens and arbor vitae. They don't like holly -- too sharp -- or the thorns on roses. For a brochure on outsmarting deer, call the master gardeners at 973.228.2210 and they'll send you one.
Meanwhile, word to the wise. Where there are deer, there are also deer ticks. "The minute you have deer, you have to be examining your children," Wallerstein warns.
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Comments (25)
Tick or treat?
Cute?
Might as well be a giant rat.
Dear=ticks.
Kill. Them. All.
My brother contracted what he thought was the flu in 1994 -- he was eventually diagnosed with Lyme and still has episodes when it becomes active.
I'm all for turning the walking Bambi's into food for consumption. There are still too many deer, I've had families of them behind my fence in GR.
Not cute, maybe west out rt 23 past Butler, but on Ridgewood Ave.
This is the heights of Newark for crying out loud. I had lyme as well several years back, no fun at all. And your dear little dogs and cats can get lyme as well. There should be a major effort each year to reduce the heard at Eagle Rock. Oh yeah, ever hit a deer, major damage. Happy 4th everyone!!!!!
I see deer all the time on Bradford and just saw a dead one on Upper Mountain on Saturday. I also saw one on Grove St the other day. When I was younger, it was a big deal to see a rabbit and now there are deer, foxes and wild turkeys running around.
I think deer are beautiful animals. I especially love the ones with the big antlers who frequently pass through my back yard, as well as the fawns with the speckled backs.
It breaks my heart, however, to see them running around in such a densely populated area. I wish there was a simple solution, but as long as we continue encroach on more and more of their natural habitat, we're going to see more and more dead on the road.
I'm telling you, people - for your yards this cannot be beat - the "Scarecrow Sprinkler" (a motion activated sprinkler)...I live right next to the woods and there are lots of deer wandering around my neighborhood every day...once I installed this device near my vegetable garden last year, the deer were no longer a problem for me...my neighbors couldn't believe it!
copy and paste link:
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-Electronics-CRO101-Scarecrow-Motion-Activated/dp/B000071NUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1246390064&sr=1-1
profwilliams said:
"Dear=ticks."
prof, you never fail to astound.
Every time someone talks about deer, Professor Williams talks about deer ticks. It's a standard item in Baristanet, and it adds to the charm of the site. I'd be disappointed if the Professor stopped doing it.
but as long as we continue encroach on more and more of their natural habitat
An inaccurate statement, considering that this area has been settled for hundreds of years, and was pretty much built out about 50 years ago. Yet it is a common misperception that we see more deer in our backyards because we are "encroaching" upon their "natural habitat". The reason you see so many deer these days is because they prefer human-altered suburbia to their "natural habitat"; indeed, this is why deer populations now are greater than they were in colonial times (or so I read someplace on the Internet).
Anyway, I live on Broad Street in Bloomfield between Bay Avenue and Glen Ridge Parkway, and I was astonished the other day when I looked out my back window and saw two deer strolling through the tiny patch of earth that I refer to as my backyard. I agree with the prof on this one - time to cull the herd!
That deer looks dead. Or maybe it's just stunned.
It's not dead or stunned. He's looking under the porch and saying,
"Walleroo, come out and play-ayy.
Wallleroooo, come out and playyy-ayyyy.
WALLEROO, come out and PLAYYY-AAAYYY!"
I actually saw one walking down South Orange Avenue, last September, IN THE ROAD, as cars carefully went around him. He was walking East, towards Newark ON the center white line.
It was scary. they can easily total a car.
Seen them on Northfield Ave in W.O. by the Zoo area, and on South Orange Avenue nearing Livingdton Mall. The reservations is still full of them, even after the shoot. They can kill you in the blink of an eye!
Oh! Joyous sight! The deer are the loveliest of creatures. That they are visiting in what we think of as "our" neighborhoods is the manifestation of nature's way, which is for all creatures to share a commons and live in peace. Humankind must learn humility in the face of the animal world. Invite a deer into your home. Offer it sustenance. Speak to it kindly. Show it deference. This behavior will do you well when the human race is dying off and the animals are once again ascendent, which should happen any day now.
Spiro, I was pointing out the spelling error that the prof made. Something that is common to 8 year olds.
Imagine that. There are animals on the Earth other than us. Who knew we failed to eradicate every last one?
You think killing every deer on the planet would eradicate Lyme disease? No. You think the existence of Lyme disease is a valid reason to call for wiping out the last superficial bits of nature left in this part of the continent? No, dumbass. Just be thankful you weren't born in Africa or some pacific Island where a fly can bite you and give you some kind of horrible disease.
YIPES!!, prof made a mistake. Even one an 8-year-old makes.
The horror!!!!
Dear for Deer, Tic for Tick.
(Now if you can only get that Reply/Leave a Comment button right and stop commenting on your own posts when you address it to someone else.....)
Either way (sorry, Amandala):
Kill. Them. All.
Kill. Them. All.
For a namby pamby nincompoop, prof, you sure talk a tough game. (Though you are a likeable namby pamby nincompoop.)
If you view a dear deer as bambi, well it might be "tough" talk.
I, however, see deer as nothing more that a giant rats.
And we happily kill rats, right?
In this light, then, not so tough, huh?
prof, you should address your concerns about the comment system to Tom Biro. Also, you make mistakes often, rather often, in fact. It can get tedious pointing them out but the dear/deer thing was just hilarious.
Funny how you seem to make the posting mistake so often, whereas others don't.
I hope Mr. Biro, when he gets back from his honeymoon, gets right on it.
But considering your past here, I could really care less about you or your inability to grasp the complex nature of the comment feature.
On a recent bike ride up 'snake hill' into Eagle Rock, I saw a young doe suckling her speckled fawn. It was a beautiful sight.
A few months ago I saw a group of deer running at top speed across 280 right in front of my car through heavy traffic. It was a terrifying sight. If any of the traffic had hit one of them, it could easily have produced a fatality. It took me 20 minutes to come down from the adrenaline high.
I think coyotes will be coming into our area soon. They aren't that far away now. Perhaps they will reduce the deer population a little bit.
Yes, MB2, let's hope for a "reduction" soon.
prof, funny that you should criticize me when you have repeated difficulty with the simple tasks of grammar, spelling, syntax and paragraph construction.
I sawa deer the other day while riding my bike to watchung plaza. i turned left onto North Fullerton from wildwood and i deer started to run next to me. it then proceded to run house to house and then ended up running away from me down Carolin