I took lots of deer photos over the summer. Here are a few I never posted.
May 4, when everything was still green, I caught these young ladies being snuggly.
May 18: Be alert! We need more lerts!
May 31: Enjoying the green grass.
Carefully watched by you-know-who.
July 5: Despite the sheer number of deer we have, we only saw one -- one! -- fawn the blessed summer long. No idea why.
When it was quite small, this baby sorta bounced into our yard through the bars of the gate. I'm glad I saw when this happened, so I could keep Mr. Darcy indoors.
I was starting to fret about how it would get back out, especially when its mama wandered away. The last thing I wanted to do was spook it and risk it breaking a leg as I attempted to open gates.
"Mama, wait for me!"
Thankfully it managed to slip through the mesh of the cattle panel fence around the yard and bounded away as if nothing had happened.
July 9: Doe against a smoky sky during summer wildfires.
July 9: Presumably the same fawn as above, on the road with mama.
And away across the pasture!
July 20: She never even noticed me watching her through a window.
August 2: "You talking to me?"
August 8: Barely had time to snatch a photo before they bounded away.
August 8: The baby is growing up.
August 22: Below our deck.
August 28: I was photographing turkeys when the fawn literally wandered into my field of view. Didn't see that one coming.
August 29: Can you spot the two does napping in the shade?
August 31: Early morning pastoral scene. Two deer lying down under the trees, others grazing, turkeys also passing through.
These two deer were grooming each other. Deer being dear.
September 1: The following morning, an almost an identical scene: Deer lying in the shade of the same tree, and just hanging out together.
In case you hadn't noticed, I like deer. A lot. Except when they get into the garden.
UPDATE: Literally moments after I posted this piece, I looked out the window and saw a group of deer with no less than five fawns among them. Go figure.
Frustratingly I couldn't get the entire group into one photo, and/or the babies were in high grass, but here are some pix:
Part of the group wandered toward the front of the house, others went into the woods. All of a sudden this baby looked up and realized it was all alone.
It slowly worked its way down the driveway, bleating quietly all the way. "Mom? Mom!"
It passed below the deck. I could have gotten better photos, but I didn't want to spook either the lone fawn or the rest of the group who were nearby.
Fortunately it was reunited with its mother and twin within moments.
So, for the moment, all is right with the world.
Yes, I like deer. Except in the garden, of course.
Great photos of one of gods creatures!
ReplyDeleteDeer are lovely. It seems that no matter how many we see, they're always exciting to spot.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if anyone knows, do deer eat maypops/passion fruit? I had about 30 growing wild and I went to check on them after 5 deer were seen out there, the fruit was all gone.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing just beautiful pictures
ReplyDeleteDeer are terrible garden pests. They are also good at emptying bird baths in spells of dry weather. I live in a small rural subdivision surrounded by trees(in south central Alabama). I do take pictures of them to send to all the relatives. They are pretty but I do cuss at them a lot when they eat all my sunflowers just as tey start to bloom.
ReplyDeleteUsually we see only moose in November, however with with the drought my husband saw one in June in the garden of course. The deer have also helped themselves to the garden. I think they survived this year's drought with everyones gardens. Finally got an 8' chainlink fence around the garden, problem solved. The deer this year have also become rather unafraid of humans, if you don't look at them directly you can move along and they will hold their ground. Now that it is fall they are visiting all my elderberry tree like bushes and getting anything they can reach, lucky they will leave some for me. Fun to watch them stand on their hind legs to reach the cluster of berries. They always seem to come around at the same time, that must be when they make their rounds.
ReplyDeleteQuestion, is it safe to feed deer corn? I have a couple of neighbors that do, I just think let nature take care of itself. I do have however crock pots around during the summer for the chickens and figure if they want water they know where it is, I figure they get their water in the creeks that have some left.