Vince said that when we moved to Texas, and Chad stayed in MO, he was looking forward to one less mouth to feed but now, there’s protein for the deer, mineral licks for the deer . . and before you ask, with the drought we’ve experienced here, it’s not a bad thing to supplement the food supply for the deer. We throw corn out to entice them to come into view so we can watch them and we know . . we’ll have to build a huge and costly fence to keep them out of the garden, but we enjoy watching them. Just think about it like this — some people spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to go on vacation. We’re perfectly happy to sit here and watch the deer come up in the early mornings and evenings. It’s what we enjoy . . ok?
And then we put out some bird feeders. We get the cutest little birds and we get so many of them! Vince fills the feeders about every other day. Look how happy Vince is to be helping the little birds! 
Now it’s time to go throw out some corn. The neighbor filled up all the big deer feeders this week so we probably won’t get as many feeding in our yard but we’ll see them passing through as they roam the land.
Life is great in Texas!
Wait until spring time. You need to put out several hummingbird feeders and watch the hundreds of hummingbirds visit. My grandmother who lived on a small farm outside of Santa Anna had to refill her three feeders sometimes 3x a day during the highest activity. Wildlife is beautiful.
Sure fun to see you two enjoy your life again especially with wild life and Texas Now to get that quilt room finished and a few odds and ends and you can really start living.
I love feeding the birds and from another blog in northern Texas I know you guys get amazing birds. If you get Vince to have fun with that new tractor and dig out a pond you will get a ton of migrating things to watch. Also safflower seed will attract different birds than the ohter kinds and the squirls dont really like it so they leave it alone. Have fun!
I need to get some corn to feed the deer too, we get them in the back yard but not on a regular basis – had just one today.
Karen
We also like your kind of vacation–watching the wildlife in our backyard: turkeys, deer, lots of birds, an occasional opposum or racoon (don’t much like them because of the rabies threat), squirrels, even a bear! They’re all trying to raid the bird feeders and we’re trying to outwit many of them .
Hmmm, Vince and my husband have the same wardrobe!
I think it’s wonderful to feed the wildlife. I had to stop feeding the squirrels, because I didn’t want to be responsible for luring them in and then have Ozzie get one. As it is, they hop from the neighbor’s tree into my huge maple tree, and taunt him unmercifully as they hop the branches into the next neighbor’s tree. They never touch the ground and Ozzie is so frustrated! I’ve thought time and again where I could possibly re-hang my bird feeder. Seed of any sort tends to sprout into monstrous plants in these parts. I had all sorts of birdseed plants growing in my back yard a few years ago.
Just spent a week at our daughter’s in Colorado – they have about 11 deer that visit their yard every couple of days – they love apples & carrots. They’re so doggone pretty.
Sounds like you’re really enjoying the country life.
I’ve been watching wildlife all my life….it doen’t get old and is wwaayyy better than a vacation somewhere. Sounds like you have made it to paradise!!!
my niece put up just a 4ft chain link planning on putting up more wire higher that never got done, but hand no trouble with her garden. now the rest of the yard is chewed beyond all recognition. maybe you don’t need a huge fence afterall. are your deer as big as the ones we get in indiana and michigan?? i know in tennessee where my son is, they are much smaller…… shorter fence.
We already know we’ll need at least a 10′ fence. There are young deer that are small but there are also huge deer here.
We have deer and elk here in Oregon and we just used some horse fence panels with chicken wire around the bottom and that keeps the deer and elk out of the garden. As long as they have other stuff to eat they leave the garden alone. An added plus is that the fence comes apart really easy so my husband can get his tractor in to till up the garden really good each spring .
Love how happy Vince looks while filling the feeders!
You should try buying end-of-the-line apples (the windfall ones or bruised ones) at local markets. You can usually get a cheap price, and my parents’ deer love them. Those and old pumpkins after Halloween/Thanksgiving. My dad put up a trail camera to see what was eating the stuff (since they come at night at the back of the yard) and the night they put out apples he said the flash made it look like a thunderstorm out back!
We probably have 10 feeders in our yard for the birds. You will want a few with guards to keep out the white wing doves. they will devour what ever is in the feeders, and don’t feed them sunflower seed-they don’t digest them. And yes, put out hummingbird feeders in the spring-the rubies will be migrating through TX on their way north. Some stay around along with the black chins. We have spent the past couple of days at the bird sanctuaries here on South Padre and also at the Laguana Antacosca wildlife refuge. Have really been birding this trip