At the end of last year, we had heard of a group of fallow deer that had been hand raised and released over off Jim Davis Rd in Parrish. One of our volunteers had voiced some concern over them but they tended to wander the neighborhood sticking to a schedule only they knew.
In Feb/March of this year we started getting calls about “our deer” being loose. Of course, they were not our deer and we had yet to see them. Then I got a call one day that there was a white deer in the road by the golf course that would not get off the road. So I went down to check it out and see what was going on. At first, they were nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes, the three of them crossed the road into a wooded area off Golf Course Rd. I spent the next 20-30 min just watching them as they meandered around browsing, checking me out, and playing with a cushion that was discarded by the side of the road. Then they ambled off following the creek.
These deer were fallow deer, which are not native to FL, and it is illegal to release them here. There was a white buck and two does (1 white and 1 brown). While they were doing ok on their own they were prime targets for predators, including humans since they were so ‘tame’ and they posed a problem to our native white tail deer as far as interbreeding. Fish & Wildlife agreed to let us try to catch and move them otherwise they were going to be destroyed. Now came the big adventure.
The white doe, by far the tamest, had no problem going into a baited trailer and being moved to the sanctuary the first week of April. The other two proved to be more of a challenge. The buck tended to push the other doe off and when he finally came close to going into the trailer, he bolted catching his foot in a fence and injuring his leg. After this, the two would not return to the trailer so that plan was scrapped. They were rarely seen for the next couple of weeks and we continued to get reports of him limping. Then the last week of April they started showing up again at a neighbors’ house on Jim Davis Rd regularly in the early am and late pm.
Due to the skittish nature of these two, we had to enlist the help of the Ag Sheriffs. We knew we were going to have to have them darted to be able to transport them. Mike Ference and Justin Yero came out along with their Sergeant Tom Frank to check the situation out. They agreed to come out on April 29th to see if we could get this taken care of.
On that Friday Mike Ference (on his day off!), Justin Yero, Kevin Karava and Sergeant Tom Frank showed up bright and early. The deer on the other hand were late. They ended up playing around down by Gamble Creek Farms. So down the road the guys went. Now darting is not an easy task especially in a wooded area but with lots of patience, determination, sweat and blood (the guys from the brush - not the deer) mission accomplished! After having to bring them out of the woods through the brush and up the creek bed, they helped us get them to the sanctuary and settled. To these guys I am forever thankful. Without their help, this never would have been accomplished and the deer would have paid with their lives. All of them truly went above and beyond. Because of their efforts they deer are alive, they no longer pose a danger to motorist or people (a ‘tame’ buck in rut is nothing to mess with), and they are no longer a threat to our white tail population. While most of the neighbors will miss them, the deer are the ones that are the losers in this– they lost their short-lived freedom. They are happy to be back together though and enjoying a small piece of what they had.
Buck, Blanc and Babe want to send a special thank you to Paige Babor, Brenda Bagley, Dave and Joyce Leonard, Randy Bates, Gamble Creek Farms and of course Mike Ference, Justin Yero, Kevin Karava, Tom Frank. WE thank you as well.
Jan Doherty
Majical Miniatures
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