I hate deer...in my basement

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:55am

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - When Jody Fabry descended the basement stairs to her seasonal home and saw broken glass on the floor, then spied what caused the mess, she didn't know who was more frightened — her, or the deer that was the culprit. A young doe apparently got into the basement through a window, then couldn't get out. Fabry called officers to her home, but it was more difficult than it looked to remove the animal.

The deer, happily, is going to be just fine!

Yahoo Updated On: 12/17/07 at 10:55 AM

[blueroses]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:56am

Stupid basement.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:59am

and this is what happens when we don't excercise the needed physical dominance over animals, we get Hoodlum Deer breaking into and vandalizing innocent peoples' homes.

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:59am

When I think how close Jody came to having her basement COMPLETELY ruined because of a stupid deer!

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:02am

I love this!!!!!!

"Move over chicken, beef and pork, area food pantries are serving up a different kind of meat.

Venison.

The healthier alternative, deer meat is leaner and lower in calories and cholesterol than beef, pork and lamb. And these days, deer is what's for dinner thanks to a statewide initiative that helps hunters donate surplus deer meat, or entire deer to butchers for processing and distribution to charitable organizations aimed at feeding hungry Pennsylvanians.

“In reality you maybe use one or two deer a year for your own personal use,” said hunter Andy Martinsen of Penndel.

For hunters who kill more deer than they can eat, the statewide Hunters Sharing the Harvest is available to help. The 16-year-old nonprofit organization works with about 125 Pennsylvania meat processors to fund butchering of deer for donation to soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters.

On average, 6,000 deer each year feed the less fortunate, according to John Plowman, who runs Hunters Sharing the Harvest.

“We can track the deer from the woods to the plate,” Plowman said, noting that the average size 100-pound deer provides about 200 meals from ground deer burger.

“The burger can be used in so many more ways than a deer steak can,” Plowman said. “Meat loaf, chili, hamburgers — it is so much more versatile.”

That versatility has helped the Bucks County Housing Group feed a growing number of working poor, volunteer coordinator Karen Houser said. When she began at the food pantry in Penndel two years ago, about 525 people per month came in for food allocations. Now, Houser said between 1,600 and 1,700 people pick up food monthly.

Despite the more than threefold increase, Houser said she has to make due with the same $20,000 state food contract she was given two years ago.

“It's a real struggle to keep food on the shelves,” Houser said. “Luckily, we've been able to feed everybody.”

Feeding the hungry got a little easier this fall when Langhorne butcher Bill Helstrom of Bill's Deer and Game Processing asked if he could fill the pantry's freezer with 1- to 2-pound packages of up to 200 pounds of deer burger.

Helstrom, a meat cutter of 26 years, has participated in the Hunters Sharing the Harvest program for about six or seven years. During most deer hunting seasons, which span September to January, Helstrom said he processes about 20 donated deer.

Yet this year, with another month of hunting to go, Helstrom said he's already butchered 63 deer, yielding almost 2,000 pounds of ground deer meat. He attributes the sharp increase to an ongoing population-thinning hunt in Upper Makefield. Officials there have received consent from about 70 landowners to allow hunters to kill deer on their properties.

Jody Maddock, Eccologix director of Wildlife Management, said 340 deer — mostly females — had been killed as of Dec. 10.

“They're getting more [deer meat] than they want,” Helstrom said of hunters in Upper Makefield. “They're helping the township, the landowners and, most of all, the homeless shelters.”


Food Acquisition coordinator Peter O'Konski said Philabundance in Philadelphia received more than 5,400 pounds of venison in the last year. That meat, along with other perishable and non-perishable goods, was distributed to 600 agencies throughout the Delaware Valley, including Bucks County, he said.

In all, Philabundance distributes close to 20 million pounds of food a year, said Martha Buccino, senior vice president of strategic development.

“The working poor are growing,” Buccino said. “That dollar can't be stretched. One of the first things to go is food. We can try to be an organization that can help them through that gap and be a little safety net for them, especially during the holiday time.”

Helstrom said he and other meat processors will donate until the beginning of March, well beyond the holiday season.

“Everybody's donating turkeys right now,” Helstrom said, adding that some organizations have limited room for additional meat.

Martinsen, who besides hunting, volunteers with the Emergency Relief Association food bank, can relate to the freezer situation. He's hoping that besides donating deer meat, folks will offer up extra freezer space so the Falls pantry can store packages of venison for distribution during the spring and summer months.

“There's people that don't want [the meat], but there's plenty of people that do,” Martinsen said. “It's feeding a lot of people that don't have anything.”

[liotte]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:16am

I've had deer break through the glass door in my house and come into the room, it's very scary!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:20am

I was on a ski trip in high school and these guys had left the door to their hotel room open while they were inside, so a deer walked in and started eating an open bag of chips. They took pictures.

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:21am

So these two are just "Restocking the food pantry"?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:24am

Hah. When I was in elementary school, a deer ran through the basement window and ended up in a classroom.

Stupid deer.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:31am

Deer can be tricky. If you doubt that, listen to this distubring 911 call:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1BQW-0dpNrA

Posted: 12/17/07 at 12:24pm

There was a fabulous You tube video a while back of a deer (Or two?) walking into a suburban superstore through the automatic sliding doors.

[mominator]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 1:51pm

touchme... it is calls like that why I could never be a 911 operator. I would have laughed my you know what off at that guy.
But back to the first post, so glad to hear the deer will be alright,

[Pippin]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:06pm

I hope AngryDeer hasn't been shot this hunting season. I would greatly miss him/her if he was shot and/or hit by a speeding car.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:13pm

only in the UP, lol

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:21pm

Something tells me Angry Deer is just fine. It's snowing a lot lately and deer tend to stay close to the den in inclement weather...or maybe he's started dating again? How many times did we tell him "Carol died, Not you!"

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 11:23am

joe's a deer-a-phobe.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 11:27am

nevermind, I see.
LOL

Updated On: 7/18/08 at 11:27 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 11:30am

the emergence of an equaklly stupid query/comment/thread, taz. don't worry, i already looked in the bathroom mirror and said rudolph three times the deer will come.