One day last week I was standing on our front porch looking down the driveway toward our garden and orchard. A big doe crossed the driveway, went up the bank and disappeared from my view. Thirty seconds later, a second deer followed the same route. I knew where they were headed. They were heading straight for our fig bushes, loaded with figs in various stages of ripeness. But that’s not the real problem.
The real problem is that a sow bear with three cute little cubs in tow discovered the figs long before the deer. While mama bear is feeding on the luscious fruit, the baby bears have loads of fun climbing the spindly fig bushes, bending and breaking stems in the process. And now three wild turkey hens have developed a fondness for figs.
If I had a dollar for every time I have come back from the garden and said to my wife, Jane, “You can’t have nuthin’ for all the wildlife,” I’d be a rich man. The squirrels, blue jays, cardinals and crows harvest our blueberries just before they are ripe enough to pick so much as a handful…