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Has anyone went to the Key Deer Refuge and spotted the deer other than early in the morning or early evening and would it be worth the drive?

We'll be stopping in Key West on a cruise from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm and I was considering renting a convertible and driving north (like there's any other direction to drive) out of Key West into the lower keys. Thought we might make it up to Bahia Honda State Park too.

Just wrote my buddy who lived there and was the refuge manager... (good contact eh!?? Ain't BN great?!?)

He says:

"Yeah!, Tell him to go to Big Pine Key and drive out to "No name" Key, and to the end of the road. Look as you drive on the island. Be sure and stop, for a Corona and pizza at the No Name Pub on the way back to Rte. 1 and on to Bahia Honda.

Yeah, we went to No Name Pub for lunch in January and saw a bunch of them in someone's yard when we were on the way there. I'll try to find a photo to post- but I am completely unqualified to try to fiddle with pictures.

Try the Key Shrimp Pizza, yum.

Dr.Corona wrote:Has anyone went to the Key Deer Refuge and spotted the deer other than early in the morning or early evening and would it be worth the drive?

We'll be stopping in Key West on a cruise from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm and I was considering renting a convertible and driving north (like there's any other direction to drive) out of Key West into the lower keys. Thought we might make it up to Bahia Honda State Park too.

it would be worth it, tho Rednek claims you have to be careful when field-dressing them..

Seen them at all times of the day...and No Name Pub is a must...best pizza in the Keys and ice cold beer....

Floridaze wrote:Seen them at all times of the day...and No Name Pub is a must...best pizza in the Keys and ice cold beer....

I'll agree about the pizza at the No Name--delicious! You will see the deer everywhere. It is worth a trip to see them.

Just leave enough time for traffic delays.
Big Pine Key has a traffic light that slows down vehicles from both directions to the point of bumper to bumper for miles during busy seasons.
( we were in it for TWO HOURS of essentially stand-still this past Feb, but that is the Key's busiest season).
Even with the top down, you might spend more time in the car than you would like to during your brief stay.
Personaly I'd stick with Key West for the short amount of time you have.
Save the deer for a trip with more time in the Keys .

Back when they used to allow people to rent a house for a week on the keys (about 10 years ago), we stayed on Summerland Key and grocery-shopped at Big Pine, but saw no deer. Thanks for the info on where to find them.

The Summerland house was wonderful. Came with a pool, a hot tub, a fishing pier, fishing rods, hammock, bicycles, herb garden and even a 9-year-old black cat. Life was grand. sigh.

Anybody have that recipe for Key Deer Pizza?

bravedave wrote:Anybody have that recipe for Key Deer Pizza?

HMMM you could grind it up and add some fennel,black pepper,
a touch of garlic and kiss it with salt and add it as sausuge

Griz wrote:Just wrote my buddy who lived there and was the refuge manager... (good contact eh!?? Ain't BN great?!?)

He says:

"Yeah!, Tell him to go to Big Pine Key and drive out to "No name" Key, and to the end of the road. Look as you drive on the island. Be sure and stop, for a Corona and pizza at the No Name Pub on the way back to Rte. 1 and on to Bahia Honda.

Yes, Buffett News is PHANTASTIC as a info resource!!!
20 years of going to the keys and never seeing a key deer.
Drove to No Name Key last Saturday and saw two!
No Name Pub was awesome. One of those dying bars where the
waitresses bicker with each other and with the customers, and the dollar
bills hanging from the ceiling with the AC running make you feel like
you're under a kemp bed in the ocean.

Gonna get photo off camera of the close-up of one key deer. It actually
licked my hand. I felt so lucky I bought a lottery ticket before washing
that hand, but it didn't work.

Griz, tell your friend thanks for the tip. I didn't feed the deer, but he
looked like he was used to being fed by humans. He was beside some
kind of octagonal commune off the main road.

As a former resident of the keys, and someone who did a lot of work on Big Pine, I find it hard to believe that some of you have never seen a key deer. They are like flies they are so numerous.

Note to you newbies...STRICTLY ADHERE TO THE SPEED LIMIT ON BIG PINE!

I miss No Name Pub. Love that place.

Anyone remember Jim's? Loved that place, too.

carolinagirl wrote: Yes, Buffett News is PHANTASTIC as a info resource!!!

the greater % of which is useless

About 10 years ago I was on Big Pine and ws lucky enough to see a couple deer.

We just watched the inquisitive deer that came right up to us. Once they realized we had no food, they walked away.

Another car pulled up with out of state plates. They had a bag of apples and started feeding the deer. We left. As we were leaving a fisheries and wildlife officer pulled up and started writing a ticket. Well, that was kind of interesting but no big deal we thought. Well, the wildlife officer must have smelled alcohol. Sure enough, within 2 minutes a Sheriff's deputy was on the scene administering sobriety tests. The driver was put in the back of the Sheriff's car and from what we could tell from 20 yards away, it looked like the female passenger was too drunk to drive their car. So along came a tow truck.

Wow. Expensive lesson on why you shouldn't feed the Key Deer.

RinglingRingling wrote:

Dr.Corona wrote:Has anyone went to the Key Deer Refuge and spotted the deer other than early in the morning or early evening and would it be worth the drive?

We'll be stopping in Key West on a cruise from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm and I was considering renting a convertible and driving north (like there's any other direction to drive) out of Key West into the lower keys. Thought we might make it up to Bahia Honda State Park too.

it would be worth it, tho Rednek claims you have to be careful when field-dressing them..

if you get caught, that would end up being some very expensive venison

Not much meat, but had a couple steaks last night-not too bad!!