September 18, 2007
Rebellious kids break rules, feed deer
I took my 5-year-old twins on a hike to Apple Orchard Falls just off the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday. I was there to get some shots for a story I'm doing on some fall hiking alternatives to busy sites such as McAfee Knob.
From the closest parking area, the hike is about a mile to the falls. It's a decent pull with some rocky spots, but the girls buzzed right on up. On the way up and down they spent a lot of time collecting acorns. At first, they would wait until they got handfuls, then they would pelt me with them. Eventually that game grew old and they started just putting the acorns in their pockets.
On the way down we found an inchworm and a nearly-dead cicada. We decided to haul them down to a little pool in the creek where we'd spotted some small brook trout. The trout gobbled the worm and the small pieces of the cicada.
On the way home I wanted to drive by the Peaks of Otter to look for deer. It was late afternoon and they were hitting the grassy areas around the road pretty heavily. The girls enjoyed it, especially when they figured out how to get the deer even closer. They were both munching on apples, and rolled down their windows and started holding the apples out. "Are you deer hungry?" they asked.
That proved tempting to those whitetails, which obviously are used to handouts.
I explained why it was important to not feed the deer. I didn't sugarcoat it. "If they get too used to getting handouts from humans, they won't know how to fend for themselves," I said. "Then, if the human food goes away, they may starve."
Of course they wondered why it was OK to feed trout but not deer. That was a tough one. I said we probably shouldn't have fed the trout. I also said it was illegal to feed the deer and asked them if they wanted a park ranger to give me a ticket. Apparently they did because the next thing I knew they were emptying their pockets and tossing acorns at the deer, which gratefully gobbled the nuts.
I hurriedly rolled up the windows and we headed on down the road. The girls didn't care. They were out of acorns anyway.
Comments
[September 18, 2007 3:19 PM]
Bob HHey Mark, be quiet about Apple Orchard falls. It is still one of those fairly close, fairly easy hikes that there isn't a ton of trash strewn along the way. Try it in the spring though when the flowers by the creek are just blooming and the ticks aren't out yet.
As for Parkway deer, the girls weren't the first and won't be the last to feed them. We call them "idiot" deer who have become more tame with each yearly generation. They are part of the attaction now and you might as well call it a modified petting zoo.
They also know where the park boundaries are.... Smart deer!
[September 18, 2007 8:18 PM]
Mark TaylorBob, I see your point, but I think the trailheads for the Apple Orchard Falls hikes -- at least the lower trailheads -- are hard enough to get to keep out most of the kinds of folks prone to littering. At least I hope so.
As for those deer, it is funny how they seem to know where those boundaries are, isn't it?
Thanks for reading, and for the note. mt