Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Deer Without Fear


During a recent trip to Austin, Texas, I had the opportunity - many opportunities, in fact - to photograph a local herd of of remarkably tame deer.  The setting was pure suburbia, and the deer seem to flourish.  That is, if you don't take their size into account.  Their populations are out of control, and they are noticeably smaller than the white-tail deer in our neck of the woods.





The first photo shows a doe and a young spike buck.  Those two were often together, along with the doe's twin fawns.  The second shot shows the same doe and fawns along with another doe, also the mother of twins.  The final picture is of the four babies all hanging out together.

3 comments:

  1. GREG T. COMMENTED:
    The first photo shows a doe and a young spike buck. Those two were

    "That strikes me as unusual - in all my years of backyard deer watching (in Stow) I've never seen a doe and a buck together. Almost always bucks have been solitary, but I just last week saw two together. Do you think it's unusual, and have you seen that in New England?

    Yesterday we saw a fawn - I had thought that fawns always were first seen in very late June/early July (nominally July 1), but checking previous pictures shows that some years I see them about a week into June.

    http://www.lexort.com/gallery/creatures-deer/gdt_33111
    http://www.lexort.com/gallery/creatures-deer/gdt_33112
    http://www.lexort.com/gallery/creatures-deer/gdt_33113"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My guess is the young buck was the doe's offspring from last year, and that he won't be hanging with her much longer. Bucks form bachelor groups in the summer, so it wouldn't be odd to see them together right now. As far as fawn-viewing goes, I've seen them early on in June before, and don't think that is out of the ordinary timing. (Very nice photos, by the way!)

      Delete
  2. KEN N. COMMENTED:
    "You don't have to go that far to see tame deer.In Hectcher Park on Long Island NY the deer come begging right up to the car windows."

    ReplyDelete