This morning I spotted a half-dozen turkeys walking through my front yard. This is no longer usual in the neighborhood but was unheard of when I was growing up. I walked into another room and saw even more in the back yard.
Throwing on some boots I crept around the corner with my camera at the ready and found no less that twenty gathered along the side of the house! Utterly amazing.
Deer are quite common as well. In the evening they even walk down the streets, afraid of nothing. Biking through the park trails in the late afternoon and early evening I have almost had collisions with them.
This is a relatively new development, one spurred in large part by the lockdown in 2020, which by keeping people indoors and away from recreation areas, encouraged wildlife to return. It was already underway to a certain extent, but this really accelerated the movement.
As far as deer, the population of active hunters in Michigan has fallen considerably over the years, and the deer harvest is down. I have hunted (unsuccessfully) for a couple of years – for the first time in decades – and was shocked at how “doe permits” have become a thing of the past.
Of course, hunting is prohibited in my leafy college town, and to cull the herd, government sharpshooters set up shop in the parks over the winter. I fear they are being overmatched. The gardens around here are all fortified, which is also a recent development.
I’m not sure how or even weather the wildlife situation will be resolved, but it certainly makes suburban life more interesting.
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