Tuesday 24 November 2015

Our deer friends

We have several around. First, a doe with twins, then another doe with a singleton. Then there is Pickle Stabber, and finally, the buck with 8 points. We need a name for him! He has an obvious flesh wound, which my buddy Justin tells me looks fine. He seems healthy otherwise!

You might notice that I took down part of our fence. This lets us see down into the meadow from the kitchen window. It's really opened up the space.

I'm wondering if a single fawn lost its momma, because hubby saw a small loner being chased and tracked by the 8-point buck this morning. Lacking name tags, we can only ID them from their male antlers and their behaviour. The does, of course, do not have antlers. They are used in fighting for territory with other bucks.

When I say fawn, I mean the babies born only last May or so. Their spots are gone, and they are visibly smaller than the adults, depending upon their eating over the summer. The lone fawn is in the last photo in this set, beside the shed!

The buck was after Daisy yesterday. That's a switch, since she usually stands up to the deer and they back off. All 7 pounds of her!

I'm having trouble uploading iMovie videos. I'm so frustrated! I think I need an upgraded computer. I created a screen shot of our newest visitor. Their antlers fall off in December or January, when food is scarce, and grow back next year! Caitlin named him Pickle Stabber! These are screen grabs from the videos.

Then there is the 8-point buck.


buck Nov 23 15 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Here are the deer sheds I collected last year. We had a skiff of snow last night, but not much. I ended up finding 5 antlers in 2014. And one of the bucks from 2014. We called this guy Sir!

5 comments:

Powell River Books said...

Daisy's story reminds me of one between a hamster I brought home from school during a holiday and my cat Pepper. The hamster got out of the cage and was standing on the stairs landing. Pepper was coming down. The hamster raised up on his haunches and Pepper retreated back upstairs. I was scared for the hamster (what would I tell the kids or maybe buy another and hope the didn't see the difference), but I was very surprised. Pepper was a good mouser even though she was a city cat that lived mostly indoors. She brought me "presents" all the time. In this case, both the hamster and I lucked out. - Margy

Nancy J said...

What a glorious back yard you have, with deer that have names. I am sure they all know where the feed trough is. Take care as your cold days have begun.

William Kendall said...

They're good company!

I've seen cats stalk deer, getting as close as they can before the deer snorts and stomps its hoofs as if to say it's had enough. Then the cat just gets up and in a very dignified way walks off.

Red said...

These critters give a huge amount of pleasure. We have deer going through the yard from time to time .

EG CameraGirl said...

What a treat for you to have deer you see often!