Drought conditions are making it hard for the animals to find food.

John Gaddie has counted more than one dozen deer in his yard at one time.

As usual, a group of white tails dined on his grass on Saturday.

With so many deer frequenting his neighborhood he's had to do some extra work to protect his plants.

"We put the wire fencing around the smaller plants and the larger plants we will put the wire up higher," Gaddie said.

Even with the wire fencing Gaddie says the deer still manage to eat what they can reach.

"Anything that is green, they will eat as far as I know, they say there are certain plants they will not, I've tried those plants," he said.

Wildlife experts say last year's wet weather led to a larger herd.

Now drought conditions are making it hard for the animals to find food and many are moving in closer to people.

Amkon General Store owner Randy Marbach says the shortage of food has prompted many to buy feed.

"People feel like they need to take up the slack when Mother Nature is not, so that's one of the reasons that it's keeping high in demand," he said.

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	Feed the deer Drought conditions are making it hard for the animals to find food.

Marbach says he's watched the price of deer feed nearly double over the last year.

"All the ethanol has increased which has drove the price of corn up," Marbach said.

The feed prices have started to come down but will likely remain high through the hunting season.

Experts don't recommend feeding deer in suburban areas, but feeding in rural areas limits the effects of drought.

Gaddie said most of the people in his neighborhood like seeing the deer, they just don't like them eating their landscaping.

"They are animals and they are wild and it's part of the scenery, it's part of nature and it's nice to have nature with you," he said.