Deer Jamboree

There is a herd of at least a dozen whitetail deer whose home range is the wooded land around our cabin. We see them out and about every day. In the morning, they mill around the woods grazing on whatever greenery they can find in the forest understory. At dusk, they come to sip water from our little pond. At night, they bed down in the leaves, often within eye shot of the cabin.

This afternoon, as I sat down at the table for a bite of lunch, out of the corner of my eye I caught the funniest thing going on outdoors. As I directed my gaze out the window, I became captivated by the antics of the deer. Single file, the herd traipsed across our driveway and collected in groups of about three. The first of the three left his small unit and raced as fast as he could down the hill into the thicket. When he had quite a lead, the second followed, and then the third. A new trio would emerge and repeat the whole process - one, two, three raced down the hill. This pattern continued until all of the deer had gathered and run downhill, one by one, but, when it was the very last deer's turn, he waited a little bit longer than the others. Then, he careened downward. His white tail bobbing, he leaped higher and dashed swifter than any of the others had before him, literally tearing down the hill. Guess he had to play catch-up! The deer appeared to have a great time with their downhill race, especially the last one who certainly made the very most of his run!

We're looking forward to seeing the newborn fawn later in the year. Undoubtedly, we'll see at least a few of them this summer with all the deer we have living around the cabin now...and undoubtedly we'll continue to be entertained by their antics for days and days to come.