Wet Deer

[rejectomorph]

About eleven o'clock one of my cats wanted out, and when I opened the front door, she stuck her nose out and abruptly stopped, and stared at something. It was a fairly large buck, standing on the front lawn about 30 feet from the door. I could see the porchlight reflected in his eyes as he watched me for a moment, and then slowly walked back to the stret in the rain. A moment later, a doe came into view, walking up the street after him. I'm surprised that they didn't start and run when I opened the door, as deer usually do. These two must have become more accustomed to humans than most.

Comments

I know you are well aware...

[jaarronn.livejournal.com]

and please forgive me for saying so here, but finding deer and other wild creatures where we normally wouldn't expect to find them speaks of a dark and desperate struggle for survival. As you wrote not to long ago - our animals are disappearing, but as they do, some of them will appear in surprising places for a while.

Re: I know you are well aware...

[rejectomorph]

Actually, this is one of the places I do expect to see deer. The town is built to a fairly low density, overall, and still has quite a few areas of undeveloped forest, open fields and orchards, and is bounded by open woodland on one side and deep forested canyons on the other sides. Also, it is illegal to discharge firearms inside the town limits, so the deer are safe from hunters as long as they stay close to the inhabited areas. The worst danger is probably from traffic on the few main roads, and a few of them do get killed each year, even though most locals are pretty careful when driving in ares where deer are common. I was only surprised not to see him bolt when I opened my door.

[kenhighcountry.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Colorado Springs the developments were cutting into the wildlands. You would hear the hoofs before you would see them, but at dusk, hers od deer, seven or eight together, would come strolling down the street, infronto of the houses, past the school. And if you sat in your yard at night you could hear coyote howling in the hills.