Bet you didn’t know deer love birdseed!

deer at feeder Elly Simard photoElly Simard has a backyard that is very busy with wildlife. Her photo of a deer eating out of her bird feeder is a classic. When she sent me that photo, along with a video of the deer, Elly also sent a turkey video of two toms fighting this spring.

She told me, “They were at it for over 2 hours.  By the time they finally broke up, it was almost full dark.  There were 2 others watching the whole time and when the original 2 broke up, the two watchers started chasing one of the original combatants.  I couldn’t tell whether it was the winner or the loser since all four were milling around.  That was when I went out on the porch to break it up.  And even then they ignored me until I stepped off the porch towards them.  They finally flew off.”

Elly also noted, “This morning we saw a bobcat walking on the ice of the brook near our house.  Gotta love Maine!”

Indeed!

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George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.