Smoky Mountain Deer Farm And Exotic Petting Zoo

Our family stayed in a cabin near here and found it by chance. We are so glad we did! Our whole family loves the zoo and the pony rides! The staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable! We spent a good 2 hours there! Highly recommended!

We live right over the hill, great family experience every time! My girls love it!!! We could go everyweek!!! The staffs great! All the interactions with the animals my kids love!!! Deff recommend it!!!

Great little excursion during our trip to Gatlinburg. You get to feed and interact with all kinds of animals including zebra, baby deer, goats, emu, pigs, cattle and more. Was really happy to see the employees took very good care of the animals and seemed genuinely happy to have you come visit.

We love this place! We live locally, but we love to take people here when they come to visit. It’s very well kept, the animals seem the be treated well and it’s great to help a place that rescues animals. The have many exotic animals to feed and also have a pony ride right outside for an additional fee. This place is definitely worth the visit!

I took my nieces (5&3) today & it was an amazing experience for all of us. The animals were sweethearts & you could tell they all are very well cared for. We hated to leave. Planning on many more visits in the future!

We love the deer farm. The owner is amazing and the animals are so friendly. We bring a large group every year and look forward to coming back every year. We celebrated the day after our wedding here this year and the owner gave us a wedding present of peacock feathers which was so sweet. We love them and will be back for the 5 th time next summer to see all our favorite animals. What a bargain for the price and experience.

I took my second trip today, and I love this place. I mean, I absolutely love it! I was really worried, before coming here, that the animals would be treated poorly or be in poorly made enclosures. I was wrong. I should have left a review months ago, when I came the first time, because I loved it then as well. The only thing I worry about is maybe over eating for the animals? Because gosh, do they love food, and they want every bit of it (they make you feel bad for saving food for the other animals lol). None of them are fat, though, so something must be going right.
My favorite animal is a cross between the cows with the giant horns (I can’t remember what they are actually called), the giant horse, and the less fluffy camel of the two. The first time I came the zebra didn’t want anything to do with me, but this time he seemed happy to see me and even let me give him some pettings. The reindeer were shy this time. Also, unlike last time, the elk came out and happily greeted me.
Don’t accidently pass up the kangeroo and peacock exhibit like I did last time.
The staff here is super friendly and nice, and I include the two cats that live inside the giftshop staff. They will just love on you like crazy.
Tips:
1.) You can find a coupon almost anywhere that has a coupon rack (like the strip or a few gas stations), it will save you $ 2 per person on up to 6 people. Thats up to $ 12, so can turn into big savings.
2.) Bring a (healthy) kitty cat treat, for the kitties inside the shop! They are super sweet and would appreciate it, I’m sure.
3.) Bring hand sanitizer. They have hand washing stations throughout the place, but if you are anything like me, I had to make a trip to it every time I fed an animal. Something didn’t seem right about petting a horse with camel saliva on my hands lol…
4.) Remember not to use flash cameras on the animals.
5.) Bring a cold bottle of water. I don’t think they have any shops with food or drinks there… I didn’t, however, look for any very hard because I had a bottle in the car. I have never seen any food/​drinks there. I suggest freezing it before you get here if its spring or summer, it gets so hot here.
6.) Don’t forget to leave them a good review and recommend to your friends, it helps them grow and get more animals and get them all of the care they need.
Thank you for reading!!!

So much fun and so many animals to feed/​pet! Love the goats! The staff is also very friendly and explained everything about the animals to us.

This place wasn’t safe! The fence of the cattle/​bull cage was broken and the bull hit me in the face with its horn! It was an inch away from my eye and No one made any sort of fuss over it or even offered me ice or medical attention. Almost two weeks later and I still have a lump and a huge bruise. Seeing the lack of compassion they had for a human getting injured on their property and the fact that we found a baby goat with its head stuck upside down in a fence with its tongue hanging out bleeding and cuts on its face, I WOULD SAY THIS PLACE IS AWFUL! I would never go back there again! Very traumatizing for me and my children. Save yourself some trouble and visit somewhere safer!

Went with my husband. We will for sure come back with our kids next time! So many animals to pet and feed. Buy apples (50 cents) as an extra. If you buy a big cup you will have plenty to feed all the animals and get to keep the cup as a souvenir.

By far the best thing we did on our trip! Great for kids and was not that expensive. The only advise is to get one large cup. The filling station is in the park and it’s a lot cheaper than buying an additional cup.

Zoo was great! Had a few animals I’d never seen before (zonky was pretty cool!) the animals were all very friendly along with the staff! I’d definitely recommend going to this place!

Fun time for the family, went after horseback riding. The employees were so helpful and friendly, and really seem to care about the animals. We loved the baby goats, camels and even saw a Joey.

Visited today. Loved the owner. Loved the animals. Very clean and the animals are well taken care of. We had a great experience.

A very friendly staff in the office really makes you feel appreciated. Just an average value; I thought the animal food was a little over priced. Still, it lets you get close to things you just don’t see everyday (loved the reindeer!) and my wife really loved it.

This place was one of those that I couldn’t wait to visit, we had never been before. But I just LOVE animals and couldn’t wait to see them.
I had never been to a petting zoo like this, there were so many different types of animals to see and all of them you could pet (except the birds)
The prices were very reasonable, you pay for admission and feed which you get a take home cup.
You may not feel it’s worth it at first, but trust me it, it is.
I wanted to go back in and get more food and apples!
The prices aren’t bad really, keep in mind they use that to care for the animals, their feed, shelter, ground maintenance, vet bills, ect.
So support your local businesses! Especially if your going to be a tourist in their home town!!!

This was my 3^rd time at the deer farm. Staff is very knowledgeable about the animals and they are clearly loved and cared for. Almost all the animals are available to feed and pet. The best part is going in with the goats. They are greedy for food but also rubs. Don’t miss this spot.

My wife and I don’t have kids, but we love Smoky Mountain Deer Park. We are from San Diego, but travel to east Tennessee every year to see my family. While I grew up around farm animals, my wife has never had a chance to pet, feed, or be close to them. This is a real treat for her and she really enjoys it.
You can touch and feed all but two of the animals. You can’t feed the kangaroos (or their joeys) or the vietnamese pig, because they are on special diets. However, you can get up close to every other animal. The farm has several different types of horses, donkeys, camels, and a zebra. It also has a lot of deer (different types) and tons of goats. You can go into the goat pen and pic up the baby goats. You can also get into the deer pen and it is fun when they crowd in around you and beg for food. There is also a Watusi and a highland cattle, which is a beautiful animal. The belgian work horse is something you have to see to believe. He is the largest horse I’ve ever seen, but he is really gentle and likes to be scratched and fed apples from your hand.
The entry fee is about $ 12 for adults. The farm sells food and apples at a more than reasonable price. Apples are $.50 each and they cut them for you. The food can be bought in a 32 oz cup for about $ 3.50 and refills on the cups are about $ 1.75. You could do the whole zoo with 1 or 2 cups. The horses and camels, really love the apples, so it’s best to buy 2 or 3.
The staff and service are also great. Ms. Lynn, the owner, is friendly and always open to conversation. You can just tell she has a big heart and really cares about the animals.
Most importantly, the animals are well cared for. All of the animals receive regular vet check ups, live in clean pens, and are fed every night. The farm takes in a lot of injured animals and rescues from people who couldn’t care for them. These animals end up at SMDF and get a much better life than they otherwise would have.

We visited the Smokey Mountain Deer Farm and petting zoo during our two week May and June trip this year and at first I really had no idea what to expect. From observing from outside it is really hard to anticipate anything, but we went ahead and visited one day and fed the goats outside. My boys enjoyed themselves, so we came back the next day and spent a few hours here. The staff is extremely friendly and guide visitors on safety precautions and throughout the petting zoo is a nice variety of animals, most of them were adopted because they had certain problems and were not what zoo’s consider good stock. I am glad to see that they adopted these animals.
To get a better idea of this place, feel free to browse through my images. When you visit here, you will purchase a cup that is used for feeding the animals, most of them will eat this food, but other animals you will need to purchase apples to feed, should you wish to. When you first enter the zoo, the first area is the goat’s pen, children love this part because they can pet the many different types of goats, and they also have baby goats. Just be careful, these goats do have horns and will literally fight for food, so do not enter the pen with the cup. One of the owner’s boys who was probably about 10 years old showed us how to pick up a baby goat, it was quite hilarious.
This zoo has goats, camels, deer, zebras, horses, peacocks, chickens, birds, lamas, kangaroos, pigs, yaks, bulls and a few other animals.
[ Prices: ]
Entrance to the zoo — Adults $ 12, Kids $ 8 (3 – 12); 99 cents (1 – 2) and Infants are 9 cents.
The animal feeding cup is $ 1.50 for 12 oz, $ 2.50 for 22oz and $ 3.50 for 32 oz.
You are better off just buying the 32oz cup; the smaller ones really are not going to be enough. We did not need a refill either, however, if you have more than 2 – 3 people feeding them, they do refill the cups for ½ the price. So to fill up the 32oz cup would be $ 1.75.
After we left the zoo my family and I were talking to one of the zoo keepers outside who was dealing with one of their peacocks, which was considered aggressive and that they were moving to a different part of the farm. This guy was extremely knowledge and caring and I could tell that this place really cares about the welfare of their animals.
If you have kids and are visiting in the area, this is definitely a place worth checking out.
[Review #155]

My kids said «its better than Dollywood!!!» We loved feeding and petting the animals and the hose ride was perfect. The staff was friendly and we all had a great day.