Guisher is a friend to the deer

Ever since Larry Guischer was a kid, he had a way with animals.

“I was born and raised on a farm and I could always make pets out of any animal,” he said. “My dad would give me a hard time for making friends of the cows, sheep and pigs. It made it hard to load them up and sell them at market.”

When working with animals, Guischer’s dad told him to always talk to the animals, something that he continues to do this day. Except it’s not barnyard animals he talks to.

“I have anywhere from 10 to 18 deer who come to eat the corn I put out,” he said. “They’re here 90 percent of the time.”

Guischer, who lives east of town, began feeding one deer three years ago. Since then, the deer not only visits Guischer every day, but brings his family and friends.

“I started feeding it when it was a fawn. It was born late in the year,” he said. “I started by putting corn in an ice cream bucket and set it outside in the yard. After two days the corn was gone.”

Soon Guischer began holding the bucket for the fawn to eat from. By the middle of the summer, both the fawn’s parents and brother joined in on the feeding.