8-pointer!
That's about as big as they get around here (southeast PA) also.
Since we've had the dog (1.5 years), the deer pressure on our ornamentals has dropped off a lot. But just lately, they're sneaking up to the house in the pre-dawn to take the hosta (aka Deer Candy) leaves. [That used to happen in the spring!]
I have a herd that fluctuates between 10 and 20 head... What's nice (for them) is that they have a continuous corridor of undeveloped woods that hasn't been logged in 50 years stretching a good 3 miles East of me, up a creek valley. [Deer tend to migrate along waterways.] So, they have plenty of other residents to bother, besides me.
Screech owls are starting to crow around sunset...Probably new fledglings trying to establish some territory. We often have big battles nearby between the Great Horned owl fledglings in the late summer... Sometimes 3 or 4 of them, all hooting at each other at once.
I've been conscientious about leaving as many standing dead trees as I can. If it can't possibly hurt anything when it falls, I'm leaving it. I let the last one fall across my driveway. Pileated woodpeckers, Flickers, Red-bellied woodpeckers, Downies, Hairies. Too many to count. Owls packed in too (Screech and Great-Horned do not like to share territory!). Pileateds will find a 'signal' tree, and I swear, you can hear them hammering from 1000 yards away!
-Paul
www.passporthealthusa.com
