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Generic_Mustard t1_jd4jq6e wrote

Not sure about your neighborhood but we need the wildlife managed a bit better where I'm at or else the animals would just gobble everything up.

Anything edible in my yard gets decimated.

I love the idea though and have been planning to turn my yard into more of a food forest or edible permaculture. Still have to figure out the wildlife situation.

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[deleted] t1_jd4q18v wrote

Bring back cougars imo

(only half joking)

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[deleted] t1_jd5a0vo wrote

[deleted]

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That_GUY_2660 t1_jd7jclc wrote

The problem now is we keep cutting down the forests and putting up housing plans. We put the housing Plans up where the deer used to eat and live and get mad when they come eat our gardens…

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tdarg t1_jd5dea4 wrote

True, but we should bring back cougars anyway.

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ionmoon t1_jd64p7l wrote

Wow. Thanks for sharing this info about the predator/mile issue. I don't think I have ever heard it and I find it very interesting.

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Prudent-Fly-8299 t1_jd4ok75 wrote

You talking about the deer in Brighton Heights?

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EllaMinnow t1_jd7rj6x wrote

Or Squirrel Hill. Or Greenfield. Or Hazelwood. Anywhere near Schenley and Frick Parks, I suspect, since naturalists say they've basically razed the edible park vegetation and are starving so they're roaming the streets in search of food and getting hit by cars.

I tried a vegetable garden the first year we after we bought our Squirrel Hill South house and realized about halfway into the season that I was basically the personal chef for a family of groundhogs.

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Generic_Mustard t1_jd5199x wrote

Yes!

We also have a lot of groundhogs, some turkeys, raccoons, and not sure what else and I don't exactly know who eats what other than deer, which will eat nearly anything!

Side note, I love watching the turkeys!!!

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PennSaddle t1_jd5zoen wrote

Lots of us hunters would love to help solve this problem. Ha

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Prudent-Fly-8299 t1_jd61i0u wrote

I know I’ve contemplated going in the woods behind Brighton heights with my bow haha

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Radek_Of_Boktor t1_jd6jaop wrote

Same out here in Penn Hills! I asked my neighbor if they'd tell on me if I "took care of the problem" myself with my bow.

Her response? "Oh, but the deer are so pretty!"

😒 ...

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rippletroopers t1_jd8ehnf wrote

Oh you don’t want to eat those deer anyway. The bio accumulation of an herbivore in this town has got to be INTENSE.

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Radek_Of_Boktor t1_jd8g687 wrote

Ah, I hadn't thought about that. That's a shame.

I actually didn't know anything about bio accumulation until I was reading about it further in this thread, but in my head I had only applied it to plants.

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rippletroopers t1_jd8h4dk wrote

Unfortunately grazers are worse than plants, and predators are worse than grazers. Every time you go up a rung on the food chain it gets worse and worse. It’s yet another reason that the deer population is as outrageously out of control as it is.

Fruit from plants is kinda the only safe thing if you’re growing it in unsafe soil.

It’s tragic what a century of industry has done to the ecology in this region.

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fadedrosebud OP t1_jd9gg4y wrote

And what about wasting disease? I'm not really knowledgeable about eating game, but I just get this feeling that it might be polluted and possibly diseased.

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PennSaddle t1_jd6k928 wrote

I’ve asked around Penn Hills before with the same response.

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covertchipmunk t1_jd8f683 wrote

The deer situation is dire. I wish someone with the authority to do so would at least start moving towards action. I don't think it's kinder to leave them to starve to death than it would be to cull some of the population, and it's not like they're going to stop reproducing.

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Zestyclose_Minute_69 t1_jd6qwfh wrote

I have had the same issues and I’m in Westwood. The deer, rabbits and groundhogs ruined everything I had outside. I want to do some kind of small greenhouse that would protect my stuff. It would have to be cheap. And I like to start composting too.

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bambi_beth t1_jd7fc2g wrote

We have the earth machine backyard composer from Pennsylvania Resources Council workshop. It has worked well!

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