My First Buck!

I finally got to see him! I saw my first male white-tailed deer, also known as a buck. This has been a long time coming for me. After seeing and taking so many pictures of female deer and their little ones I literally stumbled right into the meeting with this one.

I was at the same park where I've seen so many deer in the meadow at the back. I was actually looking for them back there, and I was disappointed that there were none there. For some odd reason I expected to see them that day, which I've never done before.

I had forgotten all about it when I was all the way back to the front of the park, getting ready to leave. I had one more turn before I could see the parking lot when I sensed something off to my right. There it was laying in the grass! He was looking in my direction, but he seemed completely unconcerned.

At first I didn't see his antlers, but I quickly focused my eyes, and there they were! I began furiously taking pictures for all I was worth! The funny thing is that he didn't move even an inch. I didn't even see a twitch of an ear! This was even after I moved from side to side trying to get a better view over the tall grass.

I actually began to suspect that maybe he wasn't real. I thought maybe he was only a stuffed deer that was put there for some strange reason. Why would somebody do that? After awhile I thought I saw him blink his eyes. It was a huge relief!

Since he wasn't going to move, I decided that I should just go away and not disturb him any longer. The pictures were close to identical, and I was guessing that he must just need to rest. Not wanting to interrupt that, I headed off towards the parking lot. But then I got an idea.

I came back around from another direction, doing my best to sneak up on him. I didn't want to get too close because even though he would most likely run, those antlers are there for a reason. I actually got pretty close to him before he made his move.

He got up quickly, so I thought he must have seen me coming at him. Then he did something unexpected. Instead of looking at me, he looked off to the right. I followed his head to what he was looking at. There was a guy standing in the exact same spot where I previously took my pictures from.

It was that guy that the deer didn't like. Why didn't he care when I was over there? Maybe I have developed a certain body language that says I'm not a threat. That could become dangerous for me in the wrong situation. The deer never once looked at me now.

He soon ran off into the woods and was gone. I got this picture of him leaving. It's a little blurry, but it illustrates exactly why they call them white-tailed deer. They lift their tails like this when they sense danger. It acts as an instinctive flag to warn any other deer.

So ends my exciting encounter with the first male deer I've ever seen. The first set of antlers I have ever seen up close. Nature is such a wonderful thing!