Deer Browse got you down?

These white-tailed deer look pretty comfortable beneath the evergreens in my backyard.

By Jen Maguder

Great Camp Sagamore’s Program Director

In my backyard, we’ve noticed that white-tails are devouring the coniferous trees that hide our house from the road. I like the privacy that these thick, needle-clad trees provide, but I also enjoy watching the deer pick their way through the deep snow in groups to come eat here. The end of winter is a tough time for white-tailed deer, since they’ve likely burned through a lot of their fat reserves and don’t yet have fresh spring growth to sustain them. So, if you have a bunch of cedar, pine, hemlock, spruce, or balsam (or all of the above) in your yard, you may be seeing the deer all hanging out together, a behavior known as “yarding up”, beneath these needle-bearing trees, where the snow tends to be shallower and melt sooner. Enjoy watching the deer while staying at home, and know this may be only temporary if you’re worried about your spruces and pines. In spring, the deer might disperse and find other things to eat. If that happens here, I may actually be sad to see them go.