For one moment, the deer was on the trail and then it was gone, bounding down the side of the path into the woods. It followed the side of the trail from below back towards me, and for just an instant, was close again. Supposedly deer will try to make their way back to their original spot after they’ve been startled.
Another deer was already on the other side of the trail in the same spot where I’d seen a coyote not that long ago. I’d never seen deer along the trail so seeing two at once was quite the treat.
Eventually the deer that was right next to the side of the trail made its way into the water and swam across to a nearby island. Out of the water, it quickly galloped off and made its way behind some large rocks. The other gradually made its way into the woods too, in the opposite direction.
Both these creatures were White Tailed Deer, which are not uncommon along Bissett Road and in Cow Bay. They are among the shyest and most nervous of deer. If startled, they’ll often raise their tails, showing the white fur beneath, as a warning flag to other deer nearby. Before the salt marsh area was made into a park, they were probably hunted here for centuries. They have a life expectancy of about ten years in the wild.
July 10, 2009 at 7:36 am
Extraordinary! What luck that you managed to take those photos. Well done!
July 10, 2009 at 8:04 am
Love the photo of the deer swimming! We see so many white-tail deer it’s interesting to read your enthusiasm. Didn’t know they lived to be about ten years old.
July 10, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Wow – great photos – what an experience. Thanks for sharing.
July 10, 2009 at 3:12 pm
They are beautiful
- the females don’t look very different from the red deer that we have here.
July 10, 2009 at 6:23 pm
At the rate they commit suicide-by-Ford-truck I’d be surprised if Antrim County deer had even a five-year life expectancy. They are pretty things, and Miss Sadie and the Cowboy are completely in their thrall, but drivers mutter darkly against them.
July 11, 2009 at 6:56 am
Kathy and Gerry, there must be so many more deer out your way. I have heard of them becoming pests when their population becomes too great in some areas. Is it true that if you hit a deer on the road in some US states that you have to remove the carcass yourself after making sure that the animal is indeed dead? My brother told me about an experience he had with that either in Michigan or Indiana.
Reggie, if I wasn’t so flabbergasted I would have had the sense to take a photo when it was right below me on the trail when it started to head back. I felt like such a stalker as I rushed to find it when it took off again. Not a good feeling. I don’t like scaring wild creatures for the sake of a photograph.
JoAnn, I often saw Mule Deer when I lived in BC. Do you ever see them on the west coast?
Yes Eldrid, they do look like your red deer. Their fur is usually more of a blondish brown than reddish but the white fur under their tails is probably their most remarkable feature, hence the name.