Never let people tell you that wildlife is rapidly disappearing from South Georgia. Wildlife abounds here in Pine Grove. One morning last week I was driving to town and saw at least ten cats out in a field. A black one ran across the road in front of me. Apparently it wasn’t very smart or was trying to work some black magic on me. I did not allow myself to mark an invisible X on the windshield, even though I admit to thinking about it.
“No,” I assured myself, “I will not succumb to the superstitious rites of the ignorant.”
Mary Ann Ellis
Wildlife refuge in Appling County?
I almost changed my mind when another black cat followed right behind the first and narrowly missed an early morning death under my front tires. The cats weren’t bothering me, and even if they had been, I certainly didn’t want to run over one. I like the five neutered cats that belong to us, and our dog Charlie, also neutered, likes our cats. He does not, however, like the strays. He’s probably the reason they no longer hang around our yard to eat with our felines. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen a mouse in quite some time, but I don’t think Charlie has much to do with that.
The cats aren’t the only wildlife around though. We came in once to find some pretty wild cows in the yard, and we’ve dealt with roaming hogs on occasion. We’ve even seen a couple of foxes, but deer form the majority of the wildlife out here. We’ve had far too many close encounters with them, one as late as November, 2011. Every accident puts our vehicles out of commission for varying lengths of time. One year we had two vehicles in the shop at the same time. We have a healthy respect for deer and their potential danger.
Saturday night last Larry and I decided to go to Waycross to see a movie—a rare treat for us. We usually stay home and read books. As I drove, I carefully stayed below the speed limit and watched both sides of the road. The woods are so close to the road that a deer can be in the front seat with you before you know what happened. I took the back roads to Alma and turned onto US #1 where Hwy. 23 intersects with it. I feel safer on a big four-lane highway. Past Alma, I turned left onto the shortcut from the main highway and again encountered close woods on both sides. I did a lot of praying and asked myself about 50 times why we hadn’t gone to the matinee.
We finally got to the movie and paid our pound of flesh to get in, another reason we don’t go to the movies very often. We lost ourselves in “Sherlock Holmes” and buttery popcorn for a couple of hours. When we started home, the sky was inky black. Soon we once again were at the mercy of the deer.
Carefully and slowly I drove home, creeping along like the proverbial old lady out for a Sunday afternoon drive. It was Saturday night and granted, I am an old lady, but deer phobia had me jittery. My foot was poised to hit the brake at any minute, but sometimes that doesn’t help. In two of our many deer accidents, the deer ran into us. Finally, I started to breathe easier when I eased the car onto Heritage Parkway, the other end of Buck Head Road. We had only a few more miles to go. The signs said, “Speed Limit 45”; I was driving closer to 35. Finally, I swung the car into the driveway. My headlights illuminated the field right beside our house, and there right out in the open stood about eight or ten deer. They were huge. I suspect they grew fat from eating our garden last summer. Fortunately we didn’t hit any of them. But, who knows? When I pull onto the road tomorrow, a deer instead of a black cat might run in front of me. Where are the hunters when you need them? It’ll soon be planting time again.
The cats aren’t the only wildlife around though. We came in once to find some pretty wild cows in the yard, and we’ve dealt with roaming hogs on occasion. We’ve even seen a couple of foxes, but deer form the majority of the wildlife out here. We’ve had far too many close encounters with them, one as late as November, 2011. Every accident puts our vehicles out of commission for varying lengths of time. One year we had two vehicles in the shop at the same time. We have a healthy respect for deer and their potential danger.
Saturday night last Larry and I decided to go to Waycross to see a movie—a rare treat for us. We usually stay home and read books. As I drove, I carefully stayed below the speed limit and watched both sides of the road. The woods are so close to the road that a deer can be in the front seat with you before you know what happened. I took the back roads to Alma and turned onto US #1 where Hwy. 23 intersects with it. I feel safer on a big four-lane highway. Past Alma, I turned left onto the shortcut from the main highway and again encountered close woods on both sides. I did a lot of praying and asked myself about 50 times why we hadn’t gone to the matinee.
We finally got to the movie and paid our pound of flesh to get in, another reason we don’t go to the movies very often. We lost ourselves in “Sherlock Holmes” and buttery popcorn for a couple of hours. When we started home, the sky was inky black. Soon we once again were at the mercy of the deer.
Carefully and slowly I drove home, creeping along like the proverbial old lady out for a Sunday afternoon drive. It was Saturday night and granted, I am an old lady, but deer phobia had me jittery. My foot was poised to hit the brake at any minute, but sometimes that doesn’t help. In two of our many deer accidents, the deer ran into us. Finally, I started to breathe easier when I eased the car onto Heritage Parkway, the other end of Buck Head Road. We had only a few more miles to go. The signs said, “Speed Limit 45”; I was driving closer to 35. Finally, I swung the car into the driveway. My headlights illuminated the field right beside our house, and there right out in the open stood about eight or ten deer. They were huge. I suspect they grew fat from eating our garden last summer. Fortunately we didn’t hit any of them. But, who knows? When I pull onto the road tomorrow, a deer instead of a black cat might run in front of me. Where are the hunters when you need them? It’ll soon be planting time again.
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