Deer Resistant Plants

A couple of months ago, a local resident was kind enough to drop a book named Creating a Deer & Rabbit Proof Garden: The Definitive Guide to Deer & Rabbit-proof Planting by Peter Derano. The book provides information on wide variety of plants that may yield better results in your home garden. Included are photos, descriptions, care-taking instruction, etc. If you're interested please stop by the City Manager's Office and I'll be happy to look over the book with you (and make copies of specific plants that interest you). It's not to late to get ready for next spring.

A Bit of Housekeeping

To all readers of this blog:

After a discussion with a concerned citizen, I was informed that the pictures on this site are misleading. All pictures, unless otherwise noted, are NOT property of the City. NONE of the pictures, unless otherwise noted, were taken in the City. Pictures are for illustrative purposes ONLY and are intended to show deer in various habitats.

Now I'm Spotting 'em at My Apartment

Either I've become more aware and informed on the spotting of deer or they just love to follow me around. As I walked back to my apartment after working out I spotted a single deer playing in the newly mulched flower beds. I may have scared it off with the music emanating from my iPhone; they seem to not be fans of Snoop Dogg. C'est la vie, maybe one day these deer will come around and begin to appreciate rap music.

Decuple Overtime

May 27th

Tonight we had to retake some sighting distances for: THE CEMETERY. Wow, what an interesting place at night. If you think it is dark and difficult to navigate during the day...try doing it at night. While we were in the Forest Lake Cemetery we drove 1.5 miles of road and spotted 10 unique (different) deer. BTW this is an actual photo from the Forest Lake Cemetery on March 14, 2009.

The 10 deer spotted during this sighting distance operation were NOT counted in the survey.

Day 5: "The Final Countdown...well at least until Fall"

May 26th

Well what can one write that has not already been written about surveying deer. Our fourth and final count yielded us 16 deer in total. After tonight's excursion, we will continue our efforts in the Fall. Paul and I will focus on high populated areas of the City in an effort to better understand our deers' behavior.

Day 4: "A Blustery No Good Day"

May 4th

It was an unusually cold and windy night on the mean streets of Grand Haven. We traveled our planned route and were disappointed to see only nine deer out and about. Paul informed me that during wind storms deer will "bed-down" and "stay-put." The sound of the wind removes the deers ability to listen for predators. All-in-all, a boring night.

Out and About

On Saturday, May 1st, as I leisurely drove around the City I spotted three deer in the middle of the day on Harbor Island.

This is how it went down: I missed the the right turn on Jackson Street to get to GameStop and was forced to use Bridge Street (which goes under US 31) to avoid an extended trip just to turnaround. As I approached Coho Drive I spotted three deer. Huh?