deer poop

I dont' have a resource for a lot of manure unless I drive a ways (I can get a bit of chicken manure from my neighbor), but I had an aha yesterday, I do find quite a bit of deer poo on my trails (looks like giant rabbit poo) and thought well duh I could use that.  So any weird diseases, or how long should I let it age, could I just bury it fresh in the bottom of a bed...?

It would also help my "problem" of the dog rolling in it...

Do the deer in your area have 'mad cow disease'?  (It's called something else in deer, but I can't remember the name right off the top of my head.)  Other than that, I can't think of anything that would make their droppings unsafe to use, although I would compost it first.  But it's going to take a while to get any substantial quantities of deer droppings!

Kathleen

my main source of fertilizer on our property is deer and rabbit poo ..from wild deer and rabbits.

they deposit it all over our yard..you can barely walk without walking on it..thank goodness it isn't messy like some other poos.

we really never used to get so much deer poo..but when we put in the wildlife coridor..they use it constantly..we have deer in our yard day and night..most days in the fall through spring..in the summer they only visit occasionally..which is fine as then they don't eat my food.

i did find one thing that surprised me this spring though..every where we have deer poo..we have wild mustard growing..funny..right out of the clumps of deer poo are clumps of wild mustard..i pulled a buch of it today..it was too far gone to eat..already flowering..it didn't hit me where it had come from until i realized it was in the deer poo.

we usually have it wild in our grasslands..but not normally all over like this spring.

they must have fed on the seeds in the fall and deposited them in little fertile capsules in our yard over the fall and winter..and they are growing well now.

I'm hoping that the deer poo will also be a good source of compost for morels??

they call it wasting disease in deer. I wouldn't be too concerned. I'm much more concerned with e. coli/salmonella in domestic manure. goat poop can be deposited directly in the garden and deer and goats are very similiar. I would just toss it in next to plants that fruit above the ground. probably not next lettuce or taters or something of that nature.

thanks everyone! my deer do look healthy as horses. I know it's not a lot in quantity, but picking it up would save us on washing the dog!!!

another problem in deer is bovine T B ..they get it when they feed nose to nose..so if there are deer feeding on your property (it is illegal to feed them..so i shouldn't plant anything ..duh)..but make sure they are not feeding nose to nose..in other words..don't put large piles of things deer eat in one spot..

we are even careful to broadcast the food we put out for the birds..and hang the feeders too high for the deer..as they will try to eat out of the feeders together..which can spread diseases..

our deer are healthy..but there are people feeding deer and turkey in the area and they put out bait piles..which are the cause of the spread of disease..not good