The Mystery of the Deer in our Garden: SOLVED

We know the deer are in our garden. We see the plants devastated, we see the hoof prints all over the beds, and we see uncontroverted proof that the deer liberally use our garden as a bathroom. But never have we actually seen them in the garden. And so we never knew exactly how they got in. That is, until today. I was standing at the kitchen window early this morning when I saw three deer meander down the side yard next to the driveway, munching at plants and trees along the way. (Apparently this part of the yard must be known to the deer as "the appetizer course.") Two of the deer were younger. They got to the garden fence and took a left to go around the outside of the fence. The larger one (I'm guessing she goes by "Mom") took a different route. She took a right and walked to the bottom of our driveway (to an area where storms from last year and the year before caused a whole lot of sand, rocks, and debris to build up over eight inches high, so that we planted ground cover over it). Little did we realize that this eight inches of height at the base of our driveway was a perfect stepping stone for a deer to enter into our yard. (We might as well have put up a sign that said "Deer Enter Here.") Apparently hungry for "the main course" inside the fence, "Mom" walked up onto the little eight inch berm, took an easy stride over the fence, and headed over for some breakfast. I caught it all on film, although her stride over is blurry and you can't really see her. (But trust me, she made getting over the fence look super easy.) Take a look at the pictures, and then I will tell you how the story ended.

"Mom" having taken a right at the fence after the young ones has turned left.

"Mom" nibbling at our crab apple tree.

"Mom" checking to make sure the coast is clear.

"Mom" approaching her entry point.

"Mom" standing on the berm and the fence suddenly looks a lot shorter.

"Mom" in a blur is over the fence in no time flat.

Once "Mom" got in the yard, I called our reliable watch dog Allie who, as it turns out, knows the word "deer." All I had to say was, "Allie, there's a DEER!" and she tore down the deck stairs and into the yard. Once she got down there I couldn't see her for all the trees, but she was barking like mad and running at full speed down to the end of the yard, where I could hear the rustling of what could only be "Mom" high-tailing it out of our yard (over the back fence this time) as fast as she could. Allie acted fast, "Mom" moved faster, and the whole thing was over in seconds. Afterward, our yard was minus one deer and our dog was very satisfied with herself.  I can only hope that "Mom" will now report to the others that there is a crazy dog in the yard with the big garden.