Friday, April 22, 2022

Where the deer and the antelope play

Remember the old song? "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play..."

We have no bison around here (except some being raised on farms) or antelope (pronghorns, technically not true antelope). But boy howdy do we have deer.

Early one morning a few days ago, as I was making tea, I glanced out the kitchen window in time to see a deer dash by. My first thought is she was being chased by a predator, but that was not the case.

I went back to making tea, when I saw another deer dash by, followed by yet another. And another. It soon became apparent that this group of four were chasing each other across our pasture at full speed.

They would dash in one direction, reach the end of the pasture, turn around, and dash in the other direction. Over and over and over.

I set my camera to "burst" (fast repetitive photos) and tried to get pictures, but wasn't very successful. Most of the time the deer were just blurs.

Rounding a tree.

This game of tag continued for a good five minutes.

The photos can't do justice to how hilarious it was to watch them.

Honestly, don't some of these photos look like modern art paintings?

At last they slowed down, apparently having worked through their high spirits.

One doe finally noticed me standing on the porch with camera in hand, and looked a little embarrassed at having been "caught' at play. (See how scruffy she looks? The deer are in the awkward stage between shedding their winter fur and growing in their summer coat.)

Having regained their dignity after panting a while...

...the animals moved one by one out the pasture gate and down the road.

And that was the end of that.

3 comments:

  1. We have moose, deer (Whitetails and Mule), and antelope. If you ever get to watch red fox kits play like squirrels it is beyond entertaining! Colts chasing turkeys around (until the turkeys say ENOUGH!) is much better than any form of Commercial entertainment - AND it is commercial-free!

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  2. Is that why the deer who patiently waits for me every morning when I feed the feral cat colony looks so mangy? That's a little heartening, because I thought it was gross, or had some skin issue, or something. (Every day I feed nine feral cats, all of whom are neutered, two seagulls, sigh, who want cat kibble, and one deer who wants cat kibble. )

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  3. Before you mentioned it, I was thinking those were quite artsy, something that really has energy. I love videos where animals are playing, looking so much like domesticated animals, even playing with childrens' toys left outdoors or just abandoned. The best in-person sight I have seen was a squirrel and a mockingbird running back and forth on the back of the swing, sort of mock-chasing.

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