Before The Shooting Starts

I never know exactly what I will see when I look out my living-room window.  Now that it is November, I very frequently  see a very young male deer with just four points.  Often his twin sister is around as well.  They sometimes sleep in the lawn area between the stone wall on the right and our house.  The gardener in me wants them to go away and stop eating my plants forever, but I have enjoyed watching these deer since they were tiny fawns.  Today I saw  the young male eating grass in the lawn close to the stone wall.  It seemed like he saw the eight point stag step out of the woods  just about the same time I did.  He quietly moved  to the opposite side of the wall from that big buck.  I got the binoculars to get a better look. Wow those big horns  horns looked sharp!  The young deer moved towards the safety of the house while the stag charged with amazing speed clearing the stone wall with ease in a single leap.  Unwilling to let nature take it course, I opened the window and shouted at them both.  The young male, knowing I am totally harmless, took the opportunity to take off to the east as fast as he could go.  The big buck unaccustomed to my bellowing retreated to the edge of the tree line.  He stood there looking majestic long enough for me to get the camera.  Ed got a chance to see him too.  It was not until I saw the picture that I noticed the young female standing motionless in the tall grass right between the two bluebird houses.

Since the young male was now gone, after a time he turned and walked away into the woods.  The young female remained where she was still motionless.  We thought the show was over and the tail of the big buck would be the last we saw of him.

It was then that the young female decided to move.  The buck stopped and turned his head in our direction once again.  There was time for one last picture,  then the female raced off to the east as fast as she could go.  The magnificent stag went after her.  We watched as he bounded across the lawn and then in the tall grass.  His leaps seemed effortless.  His feet barely seemed to touch the ground.  It was not unlike a well trained ballet dancer leaping across the stage. In a flash it was all over. All of the deer were gone!  For four more days that stag will be the force to be reckoned with around this neck of the woods.  However when the shooting starts his magnificent horns will not give him the advantage.  Before today we had heard about this eight point buck.  It was wonderful to see him but it's clear, when push comes to shove, it's the young deer that I have watched grow up here who have captured my heart!