BROWNVILLE – A local man is continuing a decades long initiative of feeding deer but now is looking for a little help to keep it going.
“They come back every year, the same deer, and they bring more babies, and then the babies bring babies, so it’s a good thing,” said Richard McMahon, who manages Brownville’s Food Pantry for Deer.
Brownville’s Food Pantry for Deer is a non-profit organization that has been feeding deer in the area for decades.
12 years ago, McMahon began managing it.
“We’ve destroyed their habitat. They have no habitat left. There’s no predator control, and the hard winters are hard on them,” McMahon said. “This seems to, the supplemental feeding helps.”
Each morning, McMahon dumps 450 pounds of grain into his “oatmobile” to deliver to the deer.
“I have a side by side that my boy put an apparatus on the back, which I can sit inside and just put buttons in,” McMahon said. “The feed goes out automatically.”
McMahon said much of the expenses are paid for through donations.
“In the last two years, the donations have taken care of the grain,” McMahon said. “We’ve got a lot of other expenses, but every year, we’re getting bigger and better.”
People travel from all over to watch the deer from the roadway.
“I’ve been seeing their videos on Facebook,” Clay Swett, a Canton resident said. “The Brownville Food Pantry, they do a live video all the time, and I like watching it.”
McMahon said they get thousands of viewers online as well.
“Facebook is on for six hours a day,” McMahon said. I recommend YouTube. It’s 1080p it’s on 24 hours a day. We have six channels to choose from.”
McMahon said the best time to see the deer is between 3 p.m. and dusk from the street located at 6 Rips Road in Brownville.
To see the livestreams, visit Brownville’s Food Pantry for Deer on Facebook or YouTube.
