Re: I had a visitor last night!
 

Make sure they're fresh and you don't leave too many. They ferment in the stomach and my sisters goat died because of it ate too many and some were a little over ripe.

The last thing you want it to do is think it can come back for food. It's nice to have them in your garden, but it's a wild animal......if you encourage it to feel comfortable in a human environment, you'll soon either find that it's been run over because it's lost its fear of roads, or it'll ruin your garden, be a pest and potentially catch the eye of someone after a free addition to their freezer!

I wouldn't bother feeding a wild animal, just give it water and enjoy it.

Re: I had a visitor last night!
 

When I first saw it I thought Muntjac which is just a small deer, on checking up yep tis for definite, though you spell it differently. Chris has just told me you can shoot that at any time of the year...*

*yes, tis a wonder why him and me get on wouldn't ya think?

Re: I had a visitor last night!
 

Just so happens my bro has a shotgun!!

Re: I had a visitor last night!
 

So does my father in law, he is a deer stalker.
Tis ok, he isn't a pikey that goes poaching but he helps manage land by culling deer to keep numbers down and stop spread of disease, and to cull injured or wounded deer.
He has also taken wounded deer calves home before to help mend and been kept in his back garden and then released back into the wild.
Miss YC I thought I had spelt it incorrectly.
Gruntygiggles, I don't think that deer actually drink water (so the wife tells me, she knows a lot more about them for the above reasons) but actually get all the water they need from eating grass.

Re: I had a visitor last night!
 

They don't normally need to as they get preformed and metabolic water (through plants and the digestive process) however, they do need to drink from time to time if they cannot get enough water in their food, so in the hot conditions we've been having, where the plants they eat have been getting less water, so too will the deer and hence the need to find it elsewhere.

I'm no expert so don't get me wrong and correct me if I am wrong. I'm just going on what I've learned through my own experiences and research....and a life of growing up in rural areas surrounded by domestic and wild animals.....I'm not vet!!! :rendeer: