We live in a rural area and most of our travels are to rural parts of the United States, so seeing a deer — or three or five — is no big deal.
We’ve seen that many out of our kitchen window.
I understand that most people do not have that opportunity and that, when they’ve seen a deer, they want to let others know so that they can see it, too. I know that they are just trying to share. I really do know that.
However, it’s a little hard not to be just a tad bit condescending, “Yeah, well, we see them all the time. It’s just a deer!”
I try not to.
However a couple of weeks ago, at Mammoth Cave National Park, we ran into a young family who had just spotted a deer quite a ways up in the woods laying down with its head just sticking up above some rocks.
Now, it’s quite an accomplishment to spot a deer in the woods when it’s laying down, not moving and quite a ways of the trail — at above the trail, at that.
However, the father of the family went on and on about where it was and that it was really a great view. On top of that one of the kids really went over the top to do his part to “help” us see it.
I finally saw it and couldn’t resist saying, “That’s the fifth one we’ve seen today.”
I think I said it nicely…, I hope so.
I’m sure they were from a less rural area than us and that seeing a deer in the wild is a big thing, but still….
On August 28, 2007, we had a really impressive deer related experience. We were at Devil’s Tower National Monument on a day that was going to be really rainy, so we took a drive over into South Dakota to go out to eat and do some shopping. Along the road we kept seeing little herds of deer. In 50 miles, we counted 95 head and I’m sure we missed a lot. Now that was cool!
Below is the deer that was pointed out to us at Mammoth Cave. This is the best photo I took, at the highest magnification of my zoom lens and cropped with my digital image editor.
It’s just a deer — but I doubt if I would have spotted it without it being pointed out to us.
I got some better images earlier on the trail — including some shots of a doe and a very, very young faun.
2
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
i work in an area where there are a lot of deer. some even sit in our parking lot grass or hang out on the golf course.
now what i’m not used to seeing are wild turkeys, but saw one standing on the corner at a light like it was waiting to cross. not by my home, but by work.
the most excitement we get here are raccoons and domestic cats.
Natural’s last blog post..Why Wait, Buy Now!
They are beautiful animals any way! Lovely photographs too.
rummuser’s last blog post..An Incredible Story.
Natural – We see wild turkey on occasion, but hear them often down in the woods. Yesterday, I saw a first in our yard next to the house — a roadrunner! We see them on occasion, but this is the first time that close to the house.
Ramana – That they are. Thanks!
I think my eyes were playing tricks on me in this post because in each picture of the deer they look like they are popping out of some odd places. The first one looks like he (or she) is coming directly out of the tree trunk and the second looks almost like you just photoshopped the deer head onto the ground. LOL. Closer inspection reveals that the first photo shows TWO tree trunks and the deer is BETWEEN them and the second photo was just taken at a different angle. Boy do I ever see things when I am up too late!
teeni’s last blog post..Spreading the Love Juice (Contest)
teeni – I wish I could take credit for it in the way that I took the pictures, but now that you mention it I can see what you are talking about.