There’s this woman I work with who gets very excited every time she sees a deer. There is a little area next to where we work where apparently some deer are found frequently. So she sees one, often when she is leaving for her car. She calls on her cell phone and screams into it, "LOOK OUT THE WINDOW! LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!! And I look thinking it might be something important like the UPS man or a really cook car. No, it is a deer. Again.
She must have been raised in a basement if she’s never seen a deer before. Or maybe she was raised in a huge city and never saw grass. But I’m pretty sure she was raised all over the world because her dad was in the military. She must have seen a deer somewhere.
Where did you grow up that you never saw UPS man or a cool car?
I grant you calling you up to tell you about something you aren’t interested in is pretty annoying (like if you called me to telll me to look at a car :)). But I’ve seen tons of deer and I still get excited running in to one. They’re beautiful animals. I hope I will alway get a thrill out of seeing one no matter how many I’ve seen already. Like a sunset. Or a naked man.
The other day I was out walking on my property. (20+ acres) I went around a bend in the path and there not 30 yards away was a deer nursing her fawn. They were both caught up in what they were doing and didn’t hear or see me so I crouched down next to a tree and watched trying my best to stay perfectly still. The fawn was maybe the size of medium sized dog. They went about their business for about a minute before the mother turned her head my way. We locked eyes and she tensed up but I didn’t flinch. She wasn’t sure if I was real I guess so she pawed at the ground making small quick motions toward me. After a few seconds of that I blinked. The mother snorted and both took off through the woods. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make your day.
Deer. Lovely little critters. Looked outside a few days ago and saw a couple of dozen of them eating the freshly-cut hay in my pasture. Still have to replace the headlight on my truck that got broken when one jumped out in front of me at dusk.
Lovely little critters. I just wish they’d stay off the roads and away from my hay.
I’m a city boy, and I’ve never seen much wildlife. However, now I’m living at the NW edge of Chicago near a Forest Preserve, and it’s fun to see deer there during a walk. Actually, I’m not very observant or something, because usually I look up and suddenly see a deer staring at me from a couple of yards off the path. They’re relatively tame, so I just stand still and observe them for a few minutes. Then I walk away slowly to avoid disturbing them any more than necessary.
I too saw a very young deer running with its mother earlier this year for the first time. Because it was so small, I actually did think it was a dog chasing the deer! I have seen (illegally) off-the-leash dogs chasing deer on a couple of occasions.
I once worked at a mental health facility, on the graveyard shift, eleven at night to nine in the morning, in charge of paperwork and supervising the night workers.
My job required me to wander around the extensively landscaped facility at night, trying to catch people sleeping on the job, watching for mental patients trying to get out, and distributing paperwork blanks to the various buildings.
The place was, I said, extensively landscaped, and there were lots of hidden deer feeders, because the place was heavy into PR, and if you’re going to commit your loved ones, why not commit them to someplace that looks really pretty and has colorful wildlife?
Since we were right in town (although isolated by a golf course and lots of woods), there were entire generations of deer living on the grounds that had never been hunted and had learned that humans would largely ignore them.
There were hordes of the critters.
There were nights I practically had to kick the damn deer out of the way to get up the footpath to the building where the copier was… although you did have to watch it during rutting season…
I was exicited when I saw a wild turkey Tuesday morning. " Oh my god, it’s doesn’t even notice me and it’s not going to stop running! Is the guy behind me far enough back for me to brake? If I hit the damn turkey, it’ll probably dent the front of my car, but if he doesn’t notice me braking, being rear-ended would be a lot worse. Okay, he’s pretty far back, oh he notices the the turkey too. Good."
Why do I only see interesting animals when they decide to play chicken with drivers?
The first time I saw wild turkey, I was completely unprepared for it. I had just seen Jurassic Park III a couple of nights previously. My eyeglass prescription was fairly dated, and they were a long way off, running across a field while I drove past. That would explain why my first thought on seeing them was “Holy cow! Miniature velociraptors!”
I grew up out in the sticks and saw lots and lots of deer. We had a pretty sizable antler collection even though we didn’t hunt, just from what ended up in the yard plus what the dogs would bring us. I still kind of get excited when I see them, how graceful and fast they are. But then again, I still crane my neck to see hawks, eagles and other random wildlife.
I live in the suburbs - we see a lot of squirrels and deer can be seen in the outlaying areas pretty frequently. I’ve even seen a few opossums.
We have a hanging planter by the picture window that gets filled with nuts for the squirrels - keeps them out of the bird feeder and provides endless amusement for the cat. They leap around (and at times, slide down the window) for the nuts and she keeps trying to get through the glass. The squirrels are used to her and have been known to taunt her by sitting there until she shows up. We can always tell if the squirrels are there by how she reacts.
The squirrels are used to us - if I sit on any deck furniture long enough, they will come over to me to see if I have any food. I’ve even had a squirrel rest its front paws on my leg and look up at me pleadingly.
The other night, after sunset, the cat was sitting there in full stealth mode - hunkered down with only the tip of her tail twitching. The squirrels never come out at night so I peeked out the window to see what was out there.
Sitting on our front step was a huge raccoon. It sat for a while, then curled up and fell asleep. I’ve since seen it when taking the trash out - it waits while I dump things into the compost heap and then gingerly picks the choice bits off the top. It likes apple cores and chicken bones the best.
Deer are always astonishing to me. I live in the middle of the city, but one morning, I was getting in my car and I saw a deer eating the bushes at the edge of the parking lot. This amazing creature, bigger than me but utterly graceful-- I get excited about deer, too.
Though I wouldn’t have called someone else. That was my deer, and why should I share it.
Next time that happens say something like: “Great, I’ll call Animal Control so they can capture it before it spreads any more disease.” She’ll probably enjoy seeing the deer even more, sympathizing with the danger they’re in from evil people like Animal Control. And more importantly, she’ll quit bugging you about them. Looks like a win-win to me.
… I got excited about deer just this morning. My mother called me and said my uncle shot a nice tender little doe yesterday and asked whether I wanted some meat. Hell yeah! Fried venison tenderloin with mushrooms. MMmmmmmmm
