Skip to main contentForget the beaver: Sugar Bob is Oregon's spirit animal.
In case your Internet was broke, Sugar Bob is a 5-month-old deer who lives in Southern Oregon's Applegate Valley. His best friend is a fat 14-year-old beagle named Trooper D. He loves coffee, roses and afternoon naps—and marijuana. When Sugar Bob hangs out with grower Richard Davis, he likes to munch on leaves and the occasional bud.
We had questions. So many questions. So we called Davisâco-owner of the Applegate River Lodge (which was featured on an episode of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's Hotel Hell in August) and better known as âPa Buttââto ask how Sugar Bob spends his time, whether he has a favorite strain and if he ever gets the munchies.
WW: Tell me more about Sugar Bob.
Richard Davis: This is Sugar Bob 2. I had a Sugar Bob 14 years ago, when I had an old golden lab by the name of Bacon who was ready to pass. He lived for another eight or nine months. He was 15. The deer swim down the river to us when they're two or three days old. They're really spirit deer. I wasn't really familiar with it, but the head of the Yurok Nation explained to me what they're doing. One time is pretty lucky, but to have it happen twice in a lifetime is something else. Once I found out what his purpose was here, I took a different view of him as a spirit rather than just a deer. To have another one come back 14 years later when Trooper gets ready to die—when I first saw him wandering around on my lawn early that morning, I knew he was Sugar Bob.
What's his personality like?
SB2 is a lot more outgoing than my other one was. He's a lot more friendly with people. He's been that way since he was three days old. He licks you constantly. And he's really smart. He's learnt quicker than any dog I ever had— "night night," "bye bye"—he knows what to do when you say those things. We communicate. He understands certain phrases. Like when I tell him "Let's go bye bye," he'll wait by the van 'til I'm ready. When I say "night night," he'll come in and lay down. He crawls in bed with me and Trooper every so often, but he's not a very good sleeper. He's up and down, up and down, up and down.
How else does Sugar Bob spend his time?
I've taken him around to people in their last days, to make their passing more peaceful. We do weddings at the lodge, and Sugar Bob did, like, six weddings before he was five weeks old. People spread their flowers going up to the altar, and he eats all the petals and goes up and sits through the whole service.
Does he party afterwards?
He digs it when we have a good party. We do music here a couple times a week, and he came in last night around 11:30. We had a rock band and he came in and went on the dance floor and played with the people a while. But I think the heavy bass affects his hearing.
Does he like to dance?
Oh yeah. He puts both paws up on my shoulders and dances. When I play guitar and sing, he seems pretty happy. I do kind of a Tom Waits-type delivery. It's mellow stuff, kind of Van Morrison.
Do you consider him a pet?
No, I never pen him up or anything. He's not really a pet. He's a companion. He just likes hanging with me and I like hanging with him. He's free to come or go at his own will. He's addicted to coffee, and he'll run across the street to the local cafe and bum coffee off them.
How does he take his coffee?
He takes it with cream and sugar. Sugar Bob is a sugar freak, plain and simple. I think I've got to cut him off. I really don't think he should have an addiction, so I'm gonna try to wean him off the coffee. It'll be hard, but I'll just have to be firm with him.
How does the marijuana affect him?
It just makes him sleepy. He'll eat some and then just start nodding off. He's like a little baby. He gets heavy eyes and his head will start nodding and pretty soon he'll just be flat on the bed, peaceful as can be. I join him a lot of times. That's good for me, because I'm an afternoon napper.
Does he snore?
We all snore. Me, the dog and the deer. Deer have different sounds they make. When he's getting low on coffee, he whines into the cup, like he wants more. If he gets really excited he'll make clicking sounds with his tongue. And if he's really frightened he cries just like a baby.
Does he have a favorite strain?
No. He's like me, he doesn't care what it is. It's organically grown Oregon weed. The plant's gonna yield what energy you put into it, period.
What do you say to objections about his weed consumption?
Deer eat it in the wild. They prefer the leaf to the bud. They're going for the vegetation. They're not going for it to get high—they're not consciously going to get the buzz on. Sugar Bob is doing it legally. He's got an OMMP card. He's doing it with permission. Same as me, I grow with permission.
Does he get the munchies?
He eats all day long, that's all he does. He's fat. He's the fattest of any deer around here. He's got a voracious appetite. He likes bananas and apples, and madrone leaves and rose petals. Coffee is the only thing he really joneses for. He's been doing that since he was a little tiny deer. And he's definitely got a weakness for sugar.
WWeek 2015