A TCD Easter at The Fort Trip Report

[Travisma 1,317]

1 minute ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

We have a lot of squirrels around the house, so Rocky is accustomed to them, and really doesn't pay much attention to them.  His problem is that he is fascinated by anything with wheels- bikes, scooters, baby strollers, roller skates, and cars.  If he sees anything like that, he wants to chase it and bite the tires.  That's not such a good thing for him to want to do- especially cars.  Fortunately, we live in the back of our neighborhood on street with not much traffic.  If I'm walking him, I have to restrain him if a car drives by. I won't let the girls walk him by themselves out of fear of him breaking loose and chasing a car.  Dummy.

TCD

She is my sons dog, but of course since he got her when he was still living at home her training fell onto my wife mostly.  She researched and found more than one article mentioning the distraction trait, and no matter how well you train them keep some sort of control over them.

That and they really suck at swimming.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

43 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Thanks, Nick.

Do you have a bike trailer yet?  I used to take the TCD girls around the Fort for morning bike rides back in the day.  I didn't trust them to not fall off of a golf cart.

TCD

Oh yeah we have one, W rode all over Seaside and Watercolor in it, and everywhere else we camped.  Now that he's bigger though he prefers the seat on the back of mine, and so do I, the trailer catches a lot of wind.  

Baby B is still too little for a bike but it won't be long before she'll be riding in the trailer with her big brother.  :)

WBI

I just realized my initials and my kids initials...W&B. I guess I need to get a dog and name it something with an I lol WBI

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

26 minutes ago, Travisma said:

She is my sons dog, but of course since he got her when he was still living at home her training fell onto my wife mostly.  She researched and found more than one article mentioning the distraction trait, and no matter how well you train them keep some sort of control over them.

That and they really suck at swimming.

LOL.  Rocky is the only boxer we've had that is a great swimmer!  He really is.  He loves the water.  He's a strange one.  I'll see if I have some photos of him swimming.

5 minutes ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Oh yeah we have one, W rode all over Seaside and Watercolor in it, and everywhere else we camped.  Now that he's bigger though he prefers the seat on the back of mine, and so do I, the trailer catches a lot of wind.  

Baby B is still too little for a bike but it won't be long before she'll be riding in the trailer with her big brother.  :)

WBI

I just realized my initials and my kids initials...W&B. I guess I need to get a dog and name it something with an I lol WBI

Good job!

There was a brief moment in time when my oldest DD was still able to ride in the baby seat, and the twins would go in the trailer, so I could take all three of them around. I did that a lot at Seaside and the Fort.  Quite a workout, and I was in pretty good shape then!

I vote for Iger as your dog's name.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

It's still Easter Sunday morning.

When Rocky and I got back to camp, just Mrs. TCD was up.  So we had some coffee, and then it was time to start cooking.

We made bacon, sausage, grits, breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, and Mickey waffles. It took a while, but it came out great.

Unfortunately, I was so busy cooking and serving that I don't have any photos from breakfast.

None.

I thought I could snag some from the girls' social media accounts, because they all took photos of their plates. It looks like those were all for Snapchat, and the photos are gone.

Oh well.

One thing that this reminded me of is how good bacon cooked outdoors on a griddle is.  So much better than microwaving it, which is how we typically cook our bacon.

After breakfast we were stuffed.

There was a lot of hammock laying.

And looping.

I am a bit sad about the fact that we completely missed the family scavenger hunt.  I haven't seen any information about it, and I wonder how it was.  If you're still reading along and know anything about it- please share.

It was another beautiful day.  On the cool side, actually.  And no chance of rain.  We were blessed with a lot of shade on our site.  We only had direct sunlight on the camper when the sun was straight overhead, but that passed in less than an hour. 

As the day went on, we talked about lunch, and everyone agreed they weren't hungry.  Mrs. TCD has a treat that she would be breaking out later in the afternoon, and we were all looking forward to that.

We also discussed dinner plans.  This was the night that I was going to grill.  I was just going to make burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  I didn't want to fry burgers in a frying pan, but I didn't mind frying up some hot dogs.  But, no one really felt like that.  Also, the oldest DD had to work on Monday morning, and she was thinking about getting a jump on traffic and heading home that night.  Mrs. TCD thought that might be a good idea for her and Rocky too.  But, they hadn't made their minds up about that yet.

In the early afternoon, I took Rocky for a walk along the dog walk path that runs behind the 900 and 800 loops. This is the bridge that crosses the canal over to the group camping area:

This is the dog walk path- it isn't usually this dusty:

There's usually water in the canal here-that's why they have the bridge.  But it was bone dry:

There was still some water in the ditch between the 800 and 900 loops:

And the canal that runs along the back of the 800 loop still had some water in it:

I have never sat on that bench right there.  Mainly because I don't want to catch a whiff of what's in that trash can:

I am not sure what happened to the photos, but Rocky and I walked all the way behind the 800 loop up to the path that leads into the 700 loop. There was a campsite on 800 that had a big volleyball net set up in the area behind the sites here.  I thought I took a photo of it, but I don't have it.

When Rocky and I got back, Mrs. TCD was just finishing up with the afternoon treat- chocolate rabbit fondue!:

That bunny melted up pretty fast- look how the side of the fondue pot cut right through his nose:

That was fun.  And good!

And we were all stuffed again.

In the late afternoon, our oldest DD and Mrs. TCD and Rocky decided to head on home.  That left just the me and the twins.  Twin #2 was able to give away her afternoon shift, so it was just the three of us. 

We decided that we'd give the Food Truck another try for dinner, and then head over to the MK and shut it down.

The hot dog, which was just an experimental item the last time we were here, is now officially listed on the menu:

I took some photos of the stickers on the back of the truck to see if anything had changed.  I don't think so:

This was Easter night, and the campground was pretty full, but the attendance at the campfire was really low.  As you can see, they didn't light the fires.  A manager type and a chef type are standing there assessing the situation:

A couple of shots of the front of the truck:

The Food Truck is great, but I'm worried about the fact that business was so bad:

I got the big pork belly and cheese burger:

Twin #1 tried the Beef on Weck:

Twin #2 got a plain burger:

Twin #2 asked if there was a CM discount for the Food Truck, and scored us a 20% discount, which I thought was awesome.  I had asked about a Passholder discount on our last visit, and was told no.  But, Fiend IDWD/Blake reported that he got a Passholder discount when he went.  So, I don't know.  What is weird is that Twin #2's CM discount got rung up as a DVC discount:

So, I don't know what's going on at the Food Truck with respect to discounts.

Here's a shot of the inside of my burger, under the bun:

That's a bonus onion ring in addition to the one that was on the toothpick on top.

The burgers were excellent.  I really liked mine.

The beef sandwich was not excellent. It was OK, but there was too much coleslaw, and that roll, which is supposed to be an important part of the sandwich, wasn't very good.

After dinner, we did some drinking at the site, and then headed to the MK.

We took the secret bus that runs from the Settlement bus stop at night. It's way better than the boat at this time of night.

We got to the MK just in time for Wishes. It's hard to believe that Wishes will be ending in just over a week.

I had been able to make us a last minute Big Thunder FP, so we rode it.

There was no wait at Splash, so we decided to ride it.  Which we don't usually do.

When it was getting near the drop, I heard the girls make a plan for the photo.  They were going to pretend that they had turtle shirts, which was a skit on Saturday Night Live the night before.  They didn't include me in the plan, but I still out-turtled them:

Note I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt- which I rarely do at WDW.  But, it was a cool evening.

Sadly, that cool weather has left us, and this past weekend, we had several days of record-setting heat.

That was our last ride of the evening.

We took the boat back.

Of course, they were making us share with the Lodge.

The way they load the boats when we share gets my goat. They always let the Lodge guests load first- even though they are going to be getting off first, and then they let us filthy campers have the seats (if there are any left) that the Lodge guests didn't want.  Such bullcrap.  But it sure tells you how WDW feels about campers.

That was it for our Easter.

But, don't leave just yet. I have another morning's worth of photos to share.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

About a month ago when I posted my bad review of the roast beef sandwich, you said you were glad I had saved you from trying it.  But you let your poor daughter struggle through one?  

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

LOL.  Rocky is the only boxer we've had that is a great swimmer!  He really is.  He loves the water.  He's a strange one.  I'll see if I have some photos of him swimming.

 

Lilly sunk like a stone in our in-laws pool, even with a dog life vest.

A woman I used to work with had 2 boxers.  She took them to the beach one day, they went running into what they thought was a shallow puddle and it was a pretty deep tidal pool.  She had to "rescue" both of them.  

That's great that Rocky is a good swimmer.

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

On 4/29/2017 at 10:46 AM, The Troll said:

 

Sadly, this photo says it all. Fort Wilderness just isn't a campground anymore. It's a poorly designed parking lot with an annoying smattering of trees. It's just a sad reflection of modern suburban America.

I bet its only a matter of time before they fix that tree problem.

 

On 4/29/2017 at 11:18 AM, keith_h said:

So true. Doesn't take much to set off dry pine straw.

I've wondered if any of the modern diesel engines could cause a fire if the conditions were correct. There are times where I turn my truck off in the middle of a regen cycle and my EGT's are well over 1000 degrees. I wonder what would happen if I parked my truck on some of that dry pine with a 1000 degree exhaust pipe. PS I would NEVER park MY truck off the concrete, that would be against the rules! 

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

 

 

If this had been done with the entire family it could be in the running for the 2017 Christmas card!

[wendinator 109]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

When Rocky and I got back, Mrs. TCD was just finishing up with the afternoon treat- chocolate rabbit fondue!:

 

That is a great idea! We're doing a delayed Easter dinner this weekend (my parents were away for actual Easter) so I've proposed this very activity. Thanks for the inspiration!

Are those white cookies on the tray? Looks like strawberries, cherries, apples, bananas, pineapple and... I can't quite tell what the white things are.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

3 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

About a month ago when I posted my bad review of the roast beef sandwich, you said you were glad I had saved you from trying it.  But you let your poor daughter struggle through one?  

That's how I roll.  I wanted a second opinion.  This was the perfect time for me to get one from an accurate source.  It turns out you weren't being too critical.

3 hours ago, Travisma said:

Lilly sunk like a stone in our in-laws pool, even with a dog life vest.

A woman I used to work with had 2 boxers.  She took them to the beach one day, they went running into what they thought was a shallow puddle and it was a pretty deep tidal pool.  She had to "rescue" both of them.  

That's great that Rocky is a good swimmer.

Here's a couple of photos I found on an old trip report.  Rocky likes to fetch.  We've found that old flip flops are the perfect item for us to throw out into the water for him to fetch.  Here he goes after one in the Rainbow River up in Dunnellon- he will swim as far as I can throw a flip flop:

And here he is bringing it back:

He will do that all day long.

In the gulf too.  Here's a photo I have of him when he was a puppy swimming at Honeymoon Island State Park:

He's the only boxer we've had that will fetch things or swim.

And the tetherball thing is unique too.

2 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

I bet its only a matter of time before they fix that tree problem.

 

I've wondered if any of the modern diesel engines could cause a fire if the conditions were correct. There are times where I turn my truck off in the middle of a regen cycle and my EGT's are well over 1000 degrees. I wonder what would happen if I parked my truck on some of that dry pine with a 1000 degree exhaust pipe. PS I would NEVER park MY truck off the concrete, that would be against the rules! 

I'm no fire expert, but 1000 degrees of anything touching dry pine straw sounds like a problem.

2 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

If this had been done with the entire family it could be in the running for the 2017 Christmas card!

If we need to, we could photoshop a couple of people turtling in their shirts in the other rows.  Nobody would know the difference.

2 hours ago, wendinator said:

 

That is a great idea! We're doing a delayed Easter dinner this weekend (my parents were away for actual Easter) so I've proposed this very activity. Thanks for the inspiration!

Are those white cookies on the tray? Looks like strawberries, cherries, apples, bananas, pineapple and... I can't quite tell what the white things are.

There are squares of cut-up pound cake.

The really white things are some kind of marshmallow Peeps that I had never seen before- they were shaped like flat Easter eggs.  I highly recommend some kind of Peep. I personally don't care much for them, but dip those suckers in chocolate, and you're got something.

BTW- the chocolate bunny in the fondue pot was kind of just a prop.  Mrs. TCD used a regular chocolate fondue recipe, and then put the top half of the chocolate bunny in that after it was ready to go.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

13 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

That's how I roll.  I wanted a second opinion.  This was the perfect time for me to get one from an accurate source.  It turns out you weren't being too critical.

 

Me?  Too critical??

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

25 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Me?  Too critical??

Yeah, what a crazy thing for me to say.

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Let's see if I can remember most of the stuff I wanted to say....

Chocolate bunny fondue? So cute!

I never knew boxers don't swim. Sanford is hard to keep out of the water.

I bet lots of people ate a late lunch on Easter, so I wouldn't expect the food truck to be busy, especially with no fire going.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

All about the bunny fondue, yummo!

Your campsite was a real win.

The food truck is cute but would definitely be slumming if parked at a site. Food looks good though. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

17 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Let's see if I can remember most of the stuff I wanted to say....

Chocolate bunny fondue? So cute!

I never knew boxers don't swim. Sanford is hard to keep out of the water.

I bet lots of people ate a late lunch on Easter, so I wouldn't expect the food truck to be busy, especially with no fire going.

I'm sure Sandford loves the water. I've never known a lab who didn't.

Good point about everyone being stuffed from Easter.  But, I do think that the unclear communications about the campfire probably kept folks away too.

1 hour ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

All about the bunny fondue, yummo!

Your campsite was a real win.

The food truck is cute but would definitely be slumming if parked at a site. Food looks good though. 

Yummo?

Did you know that this idea came from Rachel Ray and that "yummo" is her catchphrase?

Easter Bunny Fondue

If you have a batch of leftover Easter treats, spin them into new, irresistible goodies. Hop to it!

Author:

Rachael Ray Every Day

Publish date:

Mar 29, 2017

 

Photography by Peter Ardito

 

• 6Servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 2 1/2 cups chopped dark chocolate, milk chocolate or a combination of both
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Chocolate bunnies, for garnish
• Cookies, fruit, and Peeps
•  

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, heat 3/4 cup half-and-half over medium-high until barely simmering. Off heat, add 2 1/2 cups chopped dark chocolate, milk chocolate or a combination of both; stir until smooth. If fondue is too thick, place saucepan over low heat and whisk in more half-and-half, 1 tbsp. at a time. Add 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Transfer to a fondue pot; garnish with chocolate bunnies. Serve with cookies, fruit—and Peeps!

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/easter-bunny-fondue

TCD

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

No, I had no idea that was her catchphrase, ha kinda weird. Thanks for the recipe, I see some bunnies going into the pot. She looses me on chocolate covered peeps however, those things are just nasty. I will duck and run now as I know there are people that look forward to those suckers coming out every year. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The final day of our trip had arrived.

It's Monday, April 17th.

I was going to do something new today.

Our original reservation was for a longer trip, but I shortened it at check in.  When I did that, I chose to keep and pay for Monday night.  I knew that I would need to head home on Monday, but I didn't like the idea of having to pack up and get off the site by 11.  So, I paid for Monday night, even though I would be heading out by evening time.  It was an expensive thing to do, but it made the last day of the trip so much more civilized.

It was just me and the twins left this morning. We had closed the MK down the night before, so they planned on sleeping in a bit this morning.  I had a lot of breakfast stuff left over, so the plan was that I'd make some breakfast later and then wake them up.

For now, I got to go out for a final morning of looping.  My pre-set meeting time with Kenny was at 11 am, which was the latest time he could offer me.

Here's our campsite early in the morning.  Twin #1's car was over at Twin #2's apartment, so they would be heading out in Twin #2's Mini later this morning:

This site has some nice space around it:

I took this photo so I would remember to give a shout-out to my across-the-loop neighbors who arrived on Easter afternoon with much hoopla.  Sorry for the blurry photo, it's the only one I have. As you can see, they have two Harleys parked on their site. They wanted to make sure the whole campground knew that, so they made sure to run them and make as much noise as possible yesterday when they unloaded them from their trailer. For good measure, they drove them around our loop, and the 800 loop too.  I could hear them the whole way. No one was impressed.  I don't really care what people choose to spend their money or time on, but there are few things worse than loser middle aged, middle class people who think others will be impressed because they have a couple of motorcycles.  Whatever. I was going home today, so I didn't have to listen to that crap anymore. Get a life.

I remember when two-wheeled motorized vehicles were prohibited at the Fort. That was a good rule because of folks like this.

I made one last visit to the dam:

The permanent pump they installed a few years ago was running, and it was pumping water out of the already low canal and into Bay Lake:

The old, abandoned cabin is still slowly rotting away across the canal.  With the new fencing, this is as close as I can get to it now. That bird over there looks familiar:

Here we are at my favorite spot again.  I missed getting here yesterday because I had Rocky with me, and I was following the rules:

These were the first deer I had seen all weekend, which is a lot less than usual.  You can't see them in this photo, but there were some on the other side of the fence. I wondered how they had gotten over there:

Right after I had that thought, my question was answered when the deer we just saw in that last photo effortlessly leaped over the fence to join their friends.  I guess we had all better hope that alligators are not as competent leapers:

I headed down the trail, and ended up in the back of the Settlement Trading Post. If there are any of you who can even remember the covered wagon that used to be on display in front of the Trading Post, it is still rotting away in the back (I wonder if they would give it to DIT if he asked?) :

It was still a bit too early for Trail's End coffee, but that meant I could take a nice photo of Pioneer Hall without people getting in the way:

I always enjoy a nice, quiet, empty Settlement:

It seems like a decision was made to let the bushes grow higher around the Settlement Trading Post.  I guess that will hide the fact that there are no longer any totem poles or wagons or other themed decorations on display:

I stropped for a moment to look at Bay Lake from the sidewalk leading to Clementine's Beach.  Sadly, I don't think the day is far off that this beach will be the site of some cabins or some other nonsense like they are finishing up on over at the Lodge:

I know that most folks think building cabins on Bay Lake is the best thing ever, but what's going to happen to Beach Raker Guy when the beach is gone?:

You know where they should build some cabins?

Over there on Discovery Island. How cool would that be?:

Here's something new that I'll bet no one but me noticed:

Those water fountains are new.

They don't look so new, do they?

But they are.

Here's an old photo from the TCD archives- this one goes all the way back to when the River Country water tower was still where it belonged- you can see it on the left in this photo.  Over to the right, you can see the old River Country water fountains:

A few years after that, they were gone:

Then they came back with a new and improved cover:

Then they were gone again (that fancy cover is sitting over there to the left now) :

Those last two photos are from 2016, and I thought the water fountains were gone for good.

But, now they're back.

Have you ever seen so much attention given to such and off the beaten path area?

I wish they'd put whoever is in charge of the old River Country water fountains in charge of restoring broken down display wagons.

By the way, I didn't stop for a drink.  That water used to always have quite a swampy/sulphery taste. Who knows what it could do to you?

Moving on, here's the old River Country ticket booth.  They put a brand new roof on it a couple of years ago. The old one got wrecked because no one ever bothered to clear the rotting leaves off of it, and that's not good for a roof:

Sigh.  I guess replacing a roof is cheaper than having one of your maintenance guys go up there with a leaf blower on occasion.

I had seen something back here when we passed by on a previous looping trip over the weekend, and I wanted to take a closer look. It was off to the side of the path that leads down to the fishing excursion boats:

I wondered what they were hiding back here?

It looks like it's just some pressure treated lumber- you can see a stack of it under the clear plastic in this photo:

I wonder what all that is for?

Here's a peek into the old River Country entry area. They even have those stupid bear-proof trash cans in here. That bear-proof trash can company must have had a good year last year:

I always thought that the lights around the Fort were controlled by a sensor, but maybe it's a timer- they were all still on back here:

I hadn't made it over to the old petting zoo yet on this trip. I decided that I needed to do that this morning:

That fence you see in this photo is original from the River Country days.  I wonder if that lumber I saw is for fixing this up or adding to it?:

More lights still burning:

On the way to the old petting zoo, I passed by the Settlement concierge windows and was surprised to see they were shut-up.  These always used to be staffed all day long:

Not anymore. I guess if you have any ticket or other needs, you'll need to come back in the afternoon:

Do you think new water fountains are cheap?  They have to make the budget work somehow.

Why provide service to filthy campers?  It's not like this is the Lodge or anything. 

I'll bet their concierge works all day.

I will stop it here.  Next up, a lovely and fragrant visit to the barn.

TCD

[Memphis 105]

We did the pay for an extra day thing once too.  It was nice to sit under the awning sipping coffee while everyone else was packing up.  Grilled up some burgers and dogs for a late lunch/dinner and headed home about 7PM.  It was nice since we didn't have APs at the time.  Normally, when we had AP we would just pack up and head to AK and park in the RV lot.  Guess now that it’s an 11 hour drive home instead of less than 2 hours, we will not be doing that again.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

This TR is flying by much too quickly!  Where are the pictures of Mrs. TCD?  Did I miss them?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

PSA:  There will be no update posted to this trip report tomorrow, May 3rd.

I have to go and ride a banshee.

Hopefully, I'll be back at it on Thursday.

TCD

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

11 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

PSA:  There will be no update posted to this trip report tomorrow, May 3rd.

I have to go and ride a banshee.

Hopefully, I'll be back at it on Thursday.

TCD

Must be nice!

Feel free to break the rules and take some pictures!

WBI

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

I will be the first to admit I love to ride on the back of a nice Harley. However I do not like obnoxious riders who love to make their bikes roar. We have a neighbor that works the night shift and drives his bike to work everyday. Everyday he wakes me up at 2:30 as he drives by blaring his music and gunning his bike making the most noise possible. I have started running a fan in our room to block his noise.

Fun fact on deer:

"In fact, the average white tail can jump over an obstacle that is not 5, 7, or 8 feet high but 12 or more feet high– taller than virtually any barrier deer fence. In fact, to the astonishment of deer control experts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture rates white tail deer as being able to jump 15 feet high."

Trying to keep these buggers out of your garden is a real pain. We have dogs that keep the deer off but most folks build huge fences.

I think cabins on Discovery Island would be an awesome idea. Thinking of that place brings back fun but smelly memories lol.

How was the banshee? Having moton sickness issues, it looks like a real puker.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Is "ride a banshee" a euphemism for something?

Love the early morning Fort pictures!

[keith_h 420]

Cabins on Discovery Island would be a good idea. I'd give it a try for sure.

 

2 hours ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Trying to keep these buggers out of your garden is a real pain. We have dogs that keep the deer off but most folks build huge fences.

The Dept. of Natural Resources officer for our area declared them a nuisance animal in our neighborhood and has given us a year round deer permit for the past ten years. It's the only way to keep them under control. I've been seeing coyotes on and off for about the past year so hopefully they'll start bringing down the population as well. 

I did fence my garden. Due to terrain it ranges from 6-8 ft tall. Since putting it up I haven't had a deer go in. In part I think it has to do with the fence itself and how it relates the rows and plant supports inside. I've found deer are lazy. As they can find other food on our property and the adjoining woods it isn't worth the risk of a jump. Before the fence it was a different story.

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

On 5/3/2017 at 11:08 AM, keith_h said:

Cabins on Discovery Island would be a good idea. I'd give it a try for sure.

 

The Dept. of Natural Resources officer for our area declared them a nuisance animal in our neighborhood and has given us a year round deer permit for the past ten years. It's the only way to keep them under control. I've been seeing coyotes on and off for about the past year so hopefully they'll start bringing down the population as well. 

I did fence my garden. Due to terrain it ranges from 6-8 ft tall. Since putting it up I haven't had a deer go in. In part I think it has to do with the fence itself and how it relates the rows and plant supports inside. I've found deer are lazy. As they can find other food on our property and the adjoining woods it isn't worth the risk of a jump. Before the fence it was a different story.

Wow! Do you keep the meat?