Penny Arcade - Comic - Deer Diary

Dog

Penny Arcade - Comic - Deer Diary

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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Darkewolfe

Huh. That's actually probably an accurate observation of a trope I'd never noticed.

dennis

Don't be too sure, Tycho; if you can survive off of Arby's, you can survive off of anything.

Sorce

Eat at Arby's.

Lucascraft

Stupid deer. Don't you know this place was nuked/irradiated/zombied/plagued etc? You shouldn't be here. Go back to the safety of your woods.

Vladimer

this comic is dense. I love it

Preacher

Deer can be in suburban environments where jerry lives! Come on now you had to have seen the gigantic rats at least once!

rcatt

But... you live in Seattle! I presume suburban encroachments by wildlife are an uncommon-class occurrence at least.

In the city I live in, deer are not such a common sight. Instead, I get wild turkeys strutting down the curbs of my commuter roads. They are jerks.

YoungFrey

Supposedly deer thrive in suburban environments. This from Smithsonian Magazine

In some parts of highly suburbanized New Jersey, up to 60 deer live in a square mile, according to the state's Division of Fish and Wildlife, compared with just 5 to 10 deer per square mile before the land was settled by Europeans.

And from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Shelter and Range Needs

Shelter and Range Needs

• Deer are sometimes referred to as “edge” species, meaning they thrive at the interface of openings and cover patches. This allows deer to feed in productive openings while being close to escape cover.
• Many wooded suburban environments, such as parks, greenbelts, golf courses, and roadsides, meet the needs of deer.
• Mule deer can move long distances during spring and fall migrations to avoid mountain snow. Mule deer summering in the Cascades migrate as far as 80 miles to reach adequate winter range.
• Black-tailed and white-tailed deer normally reside within a ½ to 3 square-mile area; in mountainous locations, they move to lower elevations for the winter.

Thawmus

I've lived all over the midwest, and deer coming into town are a pretty normal thing, though it is a cool experience. Maybe it's not a thing on the West Coast.

Bobble

You'd be surprised how often deer are totally cool milling around in a railyard.

You'll be less surprised when you learn how much spills out of grain cars. Even a super small percentage of spill leaves a nice little bounty for the local fauna.

tastydonuts

Sir, this is an Arby's.

I love the layers of this comic... but any city large enough to have (large) parks will have deer.

Behrditz

We dont have deer in our cities in So-cal. The coyote infestations see to that.

iolo

DC is overrun with deer. They roam around in packs all hours, giving no fucks, smoking cigarettes, and daring dogwalkers and other citizenry to say anything about it.

denforth

WI here, deer are definitely common in cities. Though 'city' to me is 15-50,000 people. They go after bird feeders and gardens. We also tend to have many smaller patches of trees between lots, along roads and railways and rivers. Industrial areas tend to be right next to farmland, too.

Lucascraft

We actually had such a bad deer problem in my city a few years ago that they did a professional culling in a couple of the parks. Paid some hitmen to come in and humanely assassinate a bunch of deer.

Hahnsoo1

I live in the Bay Area (tech-bro central), and deer are all over the fucking place. As are turkeys. Whole rafters of turkeys would just wander around the streets, giving you the stink-eye and warbling if you dared to drive your cars near them.

I have several friends who had their cars damaged because of a deer stomping on the hood or trunk of their car (they jump really high!) or kicking/colliding while trying to run away. After the novelty of seeing urban deer a couple of times, you start thinking of them as a nuisance. Reportedly, deer like to hang out at cemeteries because of all of the free and yummy flowers they can eat. And, of course, they wreck havoc on any plant life that people might try to grow in their small urban spaces outdoors.

One can argue that shit's fucked, and it's not even post-apocalyptic, I guess.

Rhesus Positive

I see deer all the time on my commute, but my bus goes past Harewood Deer Park so I don’t think that counts

joshofalltrades

This is one of the all-time greats

dennis

I interpreted "city" in the comic to not mean small towns or suburbs, but the actual Big City. Like if you saw them in the middle of downtown, as you often do in post-apocalyptic movies.

Daimar

Glen just wants to get through his shift.

Denada

I could go for some America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir.

Johnny17

Free mount and all he can think of is suicide.

rahkeesh2000

I mean, this is the Division 2, the city is D.C.

Hirocon

I live in Bellevue and I've encountered wild coyotes at least three times.

Azur3flame

Goddammit, now I want Arby's

Photosaurus

Hahnsoo1 wrote: »

I live in the Bay Area (tech-bro central), and deer are all over the fucking place. As are turkeys. Whole rafters of turkeys would just wander around the streets, giving you the stink-eye and warbling if you dared to drive your cars near them.

I have several friends who had their cars damaged because of a deer stomping on the hood or trunk of their car (they jump really high!) or kicking/colliding while trying to run away. After the novelty of seeing urban deer a couple of times, you start thinking of them as a nuisance. Reportedly, deer like to hang out at cemeteries because of all of the free and yummy flowers they can eat. And, of course, they wreck havoc on any plant life that people might try to grow in their small urban spaces outdoors.

One can argue that shit's fucked, and it's not even post-apocalyptic, I guess.

Agreed, but to echo the above poster, I'm used to seeing deer in the semi-urban environs of the south bay. But if I saw one on, like, Missions street or the embarcadero in the city that'd be a different story.

OctoberRaven

The Arby's guy is pretty much the most accurate depiction of non-gamers overhearing gamers talking about gaming.

Also, tbh, if I saw a deer on the street I'd be more concerned about it being an endangered Key Deer. Then again, I live in Florida where there's a real chance of seeing an alligator in your driveway so.

lionheartssj

Pretty accurate collapsed society indicator. Without fail.

Golden Yak

Preacher wrote: »

Deer can be in suburban environments where jerry lives! Come on now you had to have seen the gigantic rats at least once!

Yeah, I was gonna mention! In the town my parents live in deer wander the streets all the time in the spring. They eat the veggies my dad plants in his backyard.

Maybe it's because the world of man is on the cusp of doom.

baudattitude

I used to see deer in the city all the time when visiting my grandmother.

She lived on Buck Street, which always made me wonder whether they named it after the deer or whether the local deer had learned to read.

OctoberRaven

baudattitude wrote: »

I used to see deer in the city all the time when visiting my grandmother.

She lived on Buck Street, which always made me wonder whether they named it after the deer or whether the local deer had learned to read.

Here in Florida we have Alligator Alley, and it's probably a good thing the alligators can't read because they'd probably be pissed that their road is over 100 miles long yet called an alley of all things.

Johnny17

I just realized that Majora's Mask features a single horse and the world is about to end. Coincidence?

Quid

Preacher wrote: »

Deer can be in suburban environments where jerry lives! Come on now you had to have seen the gigantic rats at least once!

They're all over here in Maryland too. Was just lounging on my apartment's balcony when two deer went leaping through the courtyard.

RatherDashing89

Deer thrive in apocalyptic situations because the survivors seem to think the best way to hunt them is barreling down the road in a Mustang, leaning out with a rifle in your hand.

dennis

How did it take me this long to realize the deer is saying the words in panel 2???

(Also, yes, we know there are deer in places all over. Please stop telling us.)

iolo

dennis wrote: »

How did it take me this long to realize the deer is saying the words in panel 2???

(Also, yes, we know there are deer in places all over. Please stop telling us.)

The deer are calling you...

...from inside the house!

H3Knuckles

rahkeesh2000 wrote: »

I mean, this is the Division 2, the city is D.C.

As Iolo pointed out earlier in the thread...

Iolo wrote: »

DC is overrun with deer. They roam around in packs all hours, giving no fucks, smoking cigarettes, and daring dogwalkers and other citizenry to say anything about it.

Here's a Scientific American article from a few years ago about DC employing sharpshooters to cull overpopulation of deer.

dennis wrote: »

I interpreted "city" in the comic to not mean small towns or suburbs, but the actual Big City. Like if you saw them in the middle of downtown, as you often do in post-apocalyptic movies.

Check out this 2009 New York Times article about deer returning to parks in New York City boroughs of Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan (!).

dennis

Yes, there are sometimes deer in wooded areas.

The REAL trope though, I feel, is a LION in the city.

(Waiting for all the people to come say they see lions in their suburbs every day.)

iolo

This morning when I got off the subway downtown, I was eaten by a lion.

Lucascraft

Was I Am Legend the movie that used a lion in the city?