Rats! Or, Rather, Oh Deer!

[rejectomorph]

Stepping out the front door in the grey light before dawn, I heard the telltale clop of a hoof on the pavement. I peeked around the bush that screens my front door from the street, and there was a deer, looking directly at me. Slowly, so not to startle him, I went back into the house to fetch my camera. I knew that the light wasn't really good enough for a good picture, but I wanted to try anyway. From my room, I saw the deer continuing to walk down the street toward the orchard. There were two of them. By the time I got back outside, they had gone another hundred feet. Then I saw that there were actually four deer, and all were male.

I took two pictures, but I doubt that they will turn out well. It was too dim, and the deer too far away. I watched them for a moment. They stood on the deserted cross street for a while. Then one of them leaped the fence into the orchard. The others waited for a while. One of them was either gay or very horny, because he tried to mount one of his fellows, who shook him off. Then, a car came from around the corner on the main road, and the last three deer jumped the fence and vanished into the orchard. If I had gone out two minutes earlier, I'd have seen them coming down the street, and might have gotten a picture while they were less than a hundred feet away. That might have worked, even in the dim light.