Watching the Deer

Yesterday, I again had some time to hike to the back side of our place.  It was light jacket weather and very little wind.

To get to the southwest part of our land you have to cross two creeks with a stretch of woods in between.  The first creek crossing is usually the first to be crossable after a rain, but the crossing on the second creek is often impassable for several days even though it has an old concrete slab that must have been there since the 40's or 50's -- possibly even longer.  There is evidence that there was once a road that led to it, but it has long since grown up in trees and brush.  Some of the trees appear to be in the 30 to 50 year old range.

As you come up out of the creek, there is a fairly steep hill to climb.  I walked quietly and slowly so as not to disturb any wildlife that might be in sight as I crested the hill.

As I came over the top I saw nothing except a few birds flitting among the scattered trees and weeds.  The grass is very lush because it can't be grazed due to the inability to keep fences intact at the creeks.  The tall summer grasses are dry but, beneath them, is a solid growth of tender green ryegrass which will stay green through the winter before maturing in the Spring.

I continued to walk quietly toward the north, around an old Bois d'Arc tree which had shed its bright yellow fruit on the ground, until I reached the highest point, where I stopped and stood in an open area, just looking around and enjoying the day.  Almost due north of me I saw a young whitetail buck slipping quietly through a grove of small trees.  He seemed undisturbed by my presence and I stood watching him for at least 15 minutes as he would stop and graze, look around, take a few steps and graze more.

Shortly a couple of whitetail does made their presence known as they stepped from behind a small shrub and began to graze as well.  The buck slipped off to the east and out of sight, but I continued to watch the does.  After another 15 minutes or so, the buck came walking up the hill out of the creek to join the does.  I continued to watch them and to photograph and video them with my phone.  In total, I spent close to an hour standing in one spot watching the deer grazing and wandering around the hillside.  The two does came within about 15 yards of me at one point before getting nervous and bounding off a short distance to graze more.

Below is a photo of the buck shortly after he came out of the creek after circling around the hill.