Deer
A friend of ours calls them “hooved rats,” but in truth they’re much cuter than that. In any case, Oregon has a lot of them.
According to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon has about 250,000 deer. Most of them live in our driveway and front yard. You see them everywhere, except, perhaps, in downtown Portland. Even in the suburbs of larger cities like Eugene and Salem, deer occasionally wander through backyards and across major streets.
Oregon has three kinds of deer. Almost every deer you see is either a black-tailed deer, west of the Cascades, or a mule deer, east of the Cascades. There is also a small population of Columbia white-tailed deer.
Deer, believe it or not, can be dangerous, particularly does with fawns and particularly to bothersome dogs, which they have been known to kick to death. Stand a little bit clear around the ones that look very tame and cute.
And they’re a real hazard to cars. Everyone along our rural road outside Creswell has totalled a car at some point by hitting a deer.