Today we saw the largest herd of DEER ever

Seeing deer around the house in the yard or in the farm field is not an unusual occurrence. Usually they are in small groups of 3 to 5 and some days we'll see as many a 10 to 12 but today (about 30 minutes ago) I just happened to look out at the farm field. I ran to get my phone/camera and video and take still photos and then try to count as many as I could before they headed into the woods and down to the river. I called to my wife and she started to count the deer from what she could see from upstairs and we compared notes. She counted over 45 and I counted over 50 and we both missed some that had already disappeared into the woods or were spooked by me with the camera and headed in a different direction. We have never seen a group of deer this large and we never thought or herd (pun) of deer moving in this size herd? Here are a couple of photos but the problem I had was getting as many as I could into the frame and that meant I had to zoom out and they started to blend into the background........as they should. I marked what I could pick out with a line but I'm sure I missed one or two (or more) and it was only half or less of the total herd.

Mike

My guess is with the harder winter they are herded up more. Food sources at least in my area were limited for some time due to the snow and ice so that really concentrates deer to area where there is easier food for them.

Last week with still the heavy covering of snow (12"+) some started to clear patches of snow in the yard looking for food. You're right about the tough winter for food. Still stunned about how many there were in the group

The cold harsh winter we have had this past month...my wife has been putting out some cut up apples and old carrots behind our deck. A few (3 or4) doe's and a couple rabbits show up during the night. We live in a small rural town inside the city limits. At least it keeps them from munching on a couple of my bushes in the front yard.

The company I work for has equipment at a state prison here in PA. When you go up there to p.m. or service the equipment in the afternoon, that is what the treeline looks like there, everyday. These deer have been conditioned not only by the inmates, but the guards as well. Some of the fawn have wandered within 10 feet of me and not been spooked at all. They are looking for food with no work involved.

They are looking for food with no work involved..... Go figure.

I get tired of picking up their leavings from my yard.

There are some cool white ones here tho

That's great! Your tree line looks just like mine. We had a herd last fall and counted 30 with a couple of stragglers. It was pretty cool.
KID

We were about 30 miles East of the Denver airport about a month ago and I had just told my buddy that was driving that we should be on the lookout for deer. Not two minutes later we see a field off to our right and, counting as fast as I could, numbered off 17. There were well over 20!

Used to be like that here in WI until the DNR thought it was a good idea to reintroduce wolves

As much CWD as you guys have showing up in the southern part of the state, you need some predators picking off the weak ones and keeping the deer from collecting into large herds. Otherwise that stuff will spread even faster...

Biggest herd I've ever seen was 31 at the Harley Davidson plant test track in PA.. They said it was a regular thing... but mostly 5-10 around here.

Around here a herd of 50 is not un common but is large. I do remember one time as a kid driving through Utah and there was thousands of them for many miles it continued, hundreds at a time with barely a gap between any herd it was just absolutely mind blowing to a 10 year old!

These were beside my hotel in Lethbridge Alberta in December. There were a few more there as well .

When I lived in Southeast Saskatchewan in the 80's it wasn't unusual to see 25 or 30 munching away in a wheat field.

Deer hunting was about like driving by a farm and picking which cow to put in the freezer. Lol

Kevin

They are picking all the deer off,getting to be so many I don't go to the land with out a side arm

Saw a herd of elk today, probably about 50 or 60 animals, about 20 miles north of town. I took the wife for a short ride on the Hanford site. I didn't stop for a picture.

Here is a dozen elk from a herd of about 20 just three days ago, Yakima county. I had already spooked them so couldn’t get all in the pic. Very common on my land.