After nearly 3 years, we are still on constant lookout for wildlife and last night we received a new visitor.
Two nights before a young doe had come up the hill toward the house.
Grant called me to say it was there again,down below, so as always I went to look.
It’s quite a distance, to the bottom of the field. So we could see it was a deer but something seemed different.
“Do you think it could be a young buck?” I asked.
He’d been thinking the same, so he went to get his monocular and I ran for my camera.
We had some difficulties with focus, however.
My camera seemed confused about what I wished to photograph and kept zeroing in on a stalk of grass seed which annoyingly, was right in line with the creature in the thick greenery below.
So then, I tried pretending I was photographing a bird which made the focus go in and out till I was dizzy.
Grant, in the meantime was saying rude words about the monocular. I seldom use it myself because I am not able to hold it still.
Being shaky makes telephoto images hard to capture in focus, so I settled on telling the camera I wanted continuous shots of a bird.
It means a lot of editing, but it gives you a few more chances of capturing something!
Eventually I got this shot of the buck looking up.
From what I can gather, this young chap must be a yearling growing his first set of antlers.
Just little stubs at this point. It was rather surprising that Grant and I had both, for some reason, seen something different about this creature. Generally, we don’t see bucks here and with our naked eyes, those little bumps were hardly visible, so was it something about the animals stance?
Reaching the top of the hill, he struck a pose.
Is this not a magnificent creature?
He looked at us…
…then averted his eyes momentarily but lifting his head, once more held our gaze. Proud, majestic, fearful but unafraid. We were watching through a window, but wild animals know what a house is and they are very perceptive of our eyes.
He’d come to check out the terrain, maybe.
Ears alert, ready to flee.
He gave us a final look….
..decided we meant no harm, and turned away to continue his exploration.
As always, we murmured: “We will never hurt you, but be afraid of our kind.”
The other words I always say, perhaps just think:
“You are so beautiful. I love you. Be safe.”
We were so honoured by his visit.
You are right, it is a magnificent creature. And your photographs are so enjoyable. We live in a heavily populated area but there is a creek which runs through our neighborhood. It flows into the nearby Chattahoochee River. I got out of bed in the middle of last night and looked out the window before returning. About five deer were quietly eating grass (?) under the street light on our corner. Each was a different size and I wondered if it were a family. We sometimes will see deer during the day, especially early morning. They will wander in the middle of our streets and eventually back towards the creek. I’ve lived in the neighborhood fifty years and never seen one get injured. Amazing how animals adjust to humans. Now if I could stop squirrels from having their meals at my bird feeders, I would enjoy our backyard wildlife even more!
Magical and priceless.
Wow, isn’t he fabulous! What a privilege