Deer and her twins

They are sad-looking in the snow.

deer in the snow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After the storm,  the critters were hungry. The doe with twins came along out our front window. I'm glad I didn't clear off the garden. They are trimming the plants and weeds nicely for me.

The male yearling always seem to want want momma wants. 

They scrounge anything: dead weeds, lilac saplings.

 

hungry doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Nov. 27

The fawns been on solid foods for months, born in May-ish! 

This was late August.

The male yearling thought he might like a feed. Momma wasn't having any of it! 

doe and twins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The next day, I spotted a buck keeping a close watch on a doe, who is likely going into heat sometime soon.

The mating dance is an interesting one. They mated right in the backyard while I videotaped it last year. A bit TMI, but that is life. In the following video, she is urinating on her ankle glands to put her scent out. The males do this, as well.

doe marking from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Here is a buck with pickle stabber antlers. Just a young one.

pickle stabber buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This doe made a good stab at the pumpkin. I love how they whack at and manipulate the pumpkins. I know a lot of places that have rescue animals take pumpkin donations from locals for the pigs, goats, etc.

doe pumpkin from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Visit more critters: 

Saturday's Critters #363

Hunting season rolls around again...

UPDATE:

Paramedics make dramatic bush rescue after hunter falls from tree stand https://t.co/W2KUchqGWi

— OntarioMedic (@OntarioMedic) November 16, 2016

Aug. 30th

It's hunting season in our county. I'm a meat eater, but it does make me sad.

It scares me, as I still have a low startle reflex after my trials and tribulations caring for my parents. Hubby always tells me if he is going to use the handvac! The noise startles me. I begin a panic attack.

I spotted the fawn's spots Sept. 3rd: Deer and twin fawns, and they were so cute. They stuck to the forest all summer.

Hunting in Muskoka
involves boats!

A neighbour (owning 600 acres), planning on hunting this week, informed another neighbour, who told us. Good to be prepared. They use dogs, and sometimes the dogs get away on them. It is a nice courtesy. It's quite the culture around here.

Deer hunting season began Monday and Lanark County had its first incident! We'll see what toll the season brings. There are a lot of people out hunting, most manage to do it safely!

Hunters require a licence

The Ottawa Citizen snickered:
Within hours of deer season opening, a hunter accidentally shot himself in Lanark.

Spencerville man accidentally shoots himself, but is OK after driving to hospital

Nov 07, 2016. Members of the Lanark County Ontario Provincial police detachment are investigating a hunting accident that happened on Monday, Nov. 6, 2016. A 39-year-old man from Spencerville was hunting when he sustained a gunshot injury after his firearm...

Sat., Nov. 5th

I think one twin is male, the other female. ( The one has antler buds.)



She turned up, again, Tuesday, Nov. 8th.  She's managing. I just snapped a photo as the babes bounced across the gully!


We usually have one deer each season with a broken leg. This one has managed a long time. I first spotted it on Sept. 27th. Momma has twins. They are old enough to survive.
Broken leg from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The trailcam reveals some visitors!

I've set up a Picasa album just to save my photos. They show that the deer visit every few hours. Yesterday, I spotted the red fox. Today, I saw lots of tracks. More on this another time.
I haven't seem this buck in days. I think it is Tigger. The smaller buck has lost his antlers. When the hormones stop being produced, blood ceases to flow to them and the antlers drop off. They don't need them in winter.

This tells a story. I think the story is that the two buck are Tigger and his twin. I hope! I'll have to scour the archives and match the antlers to my boys. Also, the doe and her twins didn't take off. Ours is a winter yard. They scatter in summer, and come together in the cold and snow in gender-specific groups. We've had little of either cold or snow –until yesterday!

You can click on the photos and watch a slideshow. If you do, watch the time stamps. They arrived at 5:00 p.m., the doe took off and Tigger dominated, then they came back at 6:30. What a privilege to watch them from the kitchen window!



They are hard to photograph! I'm trying to learn the settings, but firstly, I should set up the tripod! I should take some classes, but I know I'd forget it all anyway!

Momma doe and twin fawns, an update

Do you love watching wildlife?

At our house we put out a Bambi alert and run to a door or window!

We have a doe and fawn, as well as a doe and twins fawns in our forest. I took photos of them earlier, with a fawn being interested in our granddaughter's ball!

This is a photo of one of them on Sept. 15th.

Look how the spots have now disappeared in the photos below. They are happily eating grasses, just like mommy! I'm happy to see they made it through Spring, Summer and into Fall. Their live expectancy is only 3 - 5 years or so.

I was blessed with an early morning view of momma deer and her twins.


Sadly, we found a dead deer in the ditch behind our mailbox. I think it is the mother of the doe with a single fawn.

You can watch mom grooming her babe, still. In winter, the does and yearlings all gather nearby in their winter yard. The bucks gather separately.

CC #238