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Q: You probably run into a number of challenges taking care of these animals. What’s involved with protecting deer health and safety?

A: Well, it’s interesting that deer in the wild live from one to five years of age. Here at the Ranch, we average more like five to eight years. But our oldest doe is 17-years old, which is quite special.

Q: Wow, how do you explain her living so long?

A: There are several reasons. We follow all State regulations for inoculations and worming, but take it a step further in their care. Many ranches will tranquilize the deer and then give them medicine when they’re knocked out. This is very traumatic. Because we know our deer, we can isolate them in a pen one-by-one, then use a jab stick. It’s over before they know it. For worming, we simply pour a solution over their back that they can’t rub off. Again, no trauma.

But just as important is how we handle the deer during the rut. Each buck is in his own pen of about a quarter acre. This means they aren’t fighting over territory. Living peacefully means living longer.

Q: Kids call you the "Deer Lady" and you really seem to have a bond with them because of your shared love of deer.  What is it about deer that kids love so much?

A: It’s because deer are so gentle. The fawns are very vulnerable, like little children, so they relate to them. Also, during summer we let the kids feed the deer at feeding time.

Q: Do you have a lot of repeat visitors who get attached to a favorite deer?

A: Oh yes!  They can feed them as fawns at one year, pet them as yearlings the next year, and watch them as parents the year after. It’s an entire lifecycle. We name all our deer, too,  so visitors kind of  “adopt”  a deer and follow its growth year by year. On our Web site, we have a “Deer Family Album” that’s quite popular.

Q: Obviously you're attached to your animals, yet you can show some of them mounted. Why?

A: As I said, our deer tend to live long. Over time, our customers will really identify with a particular animal. Customers began to say, “Well, I miss Bessie. Why don’t you show how she looked when she was alive? That made sense, so we tried it, and it’s very popular. When a deer dies, we send it to Penn State for an autopsy. Then we have an expert taxidermist do the mounting. He is really good. We get compliments all the time from people saying, “That’s how he or she looked when living.”

Q: So you have them displayed in a museum?

A: Right now, we have a natural history museum with 110 mounted animals—from a mouse to a moose. These are all animals that could be found in the forest, like beavers, otters, mountain lines. We also show the famous antlers of the buck known as Goliath. They are shown in a full-body mount in real life poses. It took 15 years to pull together this collection.

Q: What do you see in the future of Double Diamond Deer Ranch?

A: Well, we’ve been such a major family attraction; we want to make sure there’s always something interesting and new for families to do. So besides observing and feeding deer on the Ranch and touring the Museum, we’re opening a miniature golf course. It will be under a 6,000 square foot roof and illuminated. Families can come and watch the deer play during the day, or play miniature golf anytime day or night. There’s always something to at Double Diamond Deer Ranch.

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