OH DEER!

I must preface this blog entry by saying I still think Michigan is a great place to live. There is lots of wildlife and I have become immune to MOST of the road kill that you see on a very regular basis both big and small. It is when the road kill becomes too close to my personal space that it bothers me. I did not enjoy the possum that landed in our driveway last year. For those of you with weak stomachs you might not want to read further. I don’t remember what we did with the possum (actually I can’t say WE because there is no way I would have touched the thing – even with a shovel). However, the possum tail was severed and that remained on our driveway for a really long time. Our driveway is not some nicely paved or cemented surface but mostly dirt and gravel. The gravel varies in quality and size along the drive but that is a completely different story. So the tail kind of blended in with everything else until I would go out to get the mail. YUCK! There was a day when this wouldn’t have bothered me either.

So the latest road kill is just too much for me. The very peaceful, not so alive deer you see in this picture makes me kind of sad. In fact it’s almost too disturbing to me. The deer is actually across the street. The property across the street from us is lined with wild growing vegetation, an overgrown ditch filled with our neighbors leaves and then beyond that the ground is farmed. We have been told it is owned by the University but I do not know for sure. So this deer is not really on our property but every time I pull in or out of our driveway I see it lying there so peacefully. Every time I look out the front bedroom windows I see it lying there. It’s not a bloody mess. It looks like it stretched out for a nap and never woke up – although I am positive this is not what happened. So I have heard comments that since there are so many deer in this state, if you hit it, it’s yours to do with as you wish. I guess getting free deer meat in exchange for your car repair bill is a small benefit. I have had deer meat several times but I’m just not a huge meat eater to begin with so I have no desire to do anything productive with it. The deer was obviously not desired by whoever hit it either. Looking at it just makes me think of having to put Sadie to sleep a few months ago. I know HUGE size difference but one of Sadie’s owners when she was a pup called her Clarisse because she looked like Rudolph’s girl friend. I now see the resemblance!

The scene is killing me and I don’t want to spend the next several months watching the decay process, too up close and personal! Nor do I want to see other things begin to use it for dinner, like the hawks that flew off it when I pulled into the driveway after taking the kids to school. So I put off calling the county Sheriff's office for a day because I was afraid they would laugh at me. I had to find out for myself if it’s really true that there is no provision for picking up a dead animal. Unfortunately it’s true. They do a spring pick up and that is it. OK so I don’t need my taxes to go up so they do more pickups but I did not like the choices that were given. They said I could drag it to the ditch (which is full with leaves), bury it or get someone else do to this. HEAVY SIGH!! Anyone want a dead deer? Anyone want to drag this to the ditch and cover it with the neighbor’s leaves? I am having a deer dilemma!