Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Deer Surprise

I had a bit of a surprise yesterday when I was out hiking! I had started to become bored with my usual routine so I went back to a place I haven't been to for most of the summer. This nature park is the biggest around, but I've been avoiding it because it also contains the most people. Now I'm glad I went!

I didn't expect to get many pictures because of the amount of humans that usually travel these trails. The animals never seem to come out here. I just wanted to get a good walk so I could clear my mind and refresh my spirit. It just seems like I still am having trouble getting a few things back on track. This hike seemed to help.

After seeing very many good things, and getting some very good pictures, I was in the middle of the park, walking to one of my favorite places. That's when I got the surprise. I happened to look to my left, and standing there right by the side of the trail, only a few feet away, was this little deer! I could have reached out and touched it!

I think I caught it off guard just as much as I was. It didn't really know what to do once it saw me, so it just stayed right where it was. It was a very small deer, so I'm sure it wasn't full grown, but it's not a baby. It was probably only about half the size of a full grown deer. It was a little afraid of me, but I think there was food there that it didn't want to leave.

I think that once the deer decided that I wasn't going to try to hurt it, it became kind of curious. It started moving its head around trying to get a good look at me, and wondering what I was doing with the little box that I held up to my face. I was busy taking pictures the whole time. I was even able to step right up to the little deer.

I consider these pictures some of the best I have ever gotten of a deer. Even though it is standing in the middle of these tall weeds, you can see the deer very well. If you click the pictures, you can see a lot of detail on the deer. I can make out the deer's eyebrows in the original uncompressed photos. You can almost do that with them now.

There was something amusing that happened while I was taking my pictures of my new friend. There were bees all over the weeds you see there in front of the deer. After a few minutes, the bees began to take an interest in me. Several of them started coming after me. I didn't want to accidentally get stung, so I was hopping around trying to get them away from me.

The deer stood there watching me the whole time this was happening. Even my jumping around like a maniac didn't frighten this little deer enough to send it running back into the forest. I was extremely grateful for that. After I got rid of the curious bees I went back to getting my pictures. I needed to present this little deer to the world.

As I wrap this post up, you might notice that I said the deer didn't leave. I don't really want to bring up the ugly word Cliffhanger, but this is not the last you'll see of this little deer. This is the end of this story, but I have something involving this deer to show you tomorrow that will simply delight you!

25 comments:

  1. You are telling the deer just stand there looking at you while you are jumping like a monkey?

    No, it is thinking someone is funny enough to present an ugly moon walk.

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  2. What a beautiful deer! I love the photos. Hope the bees didn't sting you!

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  3. That was a pretty lucky chance to have a deer that stayed enough for a couple of pictures :-)

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  4. What a cute deer and how lucky to have it come so close so you could get such great pictures. Glad the bees didn't sting you. It is bee and yellow jacket season.

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  5. hmm nice shots.. u got lucky like me.. hmm me too got some dees soo close to photogtraph.. both spotted and other ones in groups.. just have a look in my hill palace galleries of my blog..

    http://pixelshots.blogspot.com/2009/07/photos-of-hillpalace-old-palace-in.html

    other pics ae in other posts on hill palace..got close deer shots in other postings..

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  6. a deer surprise indeed! 'will wait for the sequel... ;)

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  7. Lovely photos and how lucky to have stumbled upon the deer like that.

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  8. Maybe the deer wasn't frightened of you because you were so scared of the bees...lol...I will definitely come by tomorrow to see what is next in the story!!

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  9. you were really close to that deer, dr. doolittle! hehehe! amazing captures when you are that close. i see your adventures getting more and more spectacular. have a great day my friend...xoxox

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  10. Great job with the camera.

    Old Duffer
    http://oldduffersnaturecinema.blogspot.com

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  11. I am sure this beautiful creature has yet to learn the dangers of our race. Having been in a park, most people he would encounter would be gentle and curious like yourself. These are amazing photos and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for your next installment of "Ratty meets a Deer!"

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  12. I can't believe you got so close. My mom has several that visit her everyday in Michigan and she hand feeds them their lunch usually.

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  13. Incredible photos and story behind them. I would have assumed those were captured using a 20x+ zoom lens from behind a blind!

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  14. Very nice deer pictures! Sometimes they get so used to people that they seem to be almost deaf. I had a similar encounter once. We were so afraid we'd scare it off before I got a picture, and in the end it paid no attention to our whistles, jumping or yelling! We ended up laughing out loud at the silly thing. Yours is a little beauty.

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  15. Well, look at that! How sweet! It was probably chuckling at you dodging the bees.

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  16. Hey... come over and check out the Scavenger Hunt winners!

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  17. You are so lucky, Ratty!! That is a cool set of photos and a wonderful tale you're telling!! What fun!

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  18. Your photos of this lovely deer are wonderful. When enlarged you can even see the white hairs at the ears. Deer sometimes seem to be as curious about us as we are of them. That one was probably studying you, especially as you did your dance for him.

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  19. You really are a dear friend to all deers! =D That's an amazing closeup.

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  20. i know, the word spread around, from the bunny to the geese to the deer, they know you are their friend, so they let you take their wonderful poses :)

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  21. AWESOME, Ratty!! I haven't gotten very close to a deer when photographing it...you were blessed. Good for you.

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  22. I am happy to say that I never got stung even once by the bees that were after me when I took the pictures of that little deer. Thanks everyone!

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