The Deer Up Close

When I opened the door the other day to go out and get the paper I was face to face with a deer. It was standing on the front sidewalk just feet from me.

We startled each other and it sort of bounded off while I jumped back.

It is the badly injured deer, the one we saw at Christmas. We've seen it several times since. The mangled hind leg is still a mess, only this time I saw it close up.

The deer has eaten my plantings along the garage wall, reducing a dwarf cypress to a nub. It left droppings right in the middle of the walk which I need to clean up before anyone else steps in them or they get sucked into the snowblower.

It still lives. It is still coming far too close to houses. I still don't know what to do about it.