I’m wondering what wildlife my readers see where they live. We feed a small herd of deer comprised primarily of four does and their seven new fawns, as well as, four yearlings. The kid-like (as in goats) antics of the fawns amuse us every day as they grow and become self sufficient.

The end of August marked their weaning time and the hungry little ones began to call us to feed them at dinner times as well as at breakfast time. By dusk they are all gone into the forest to spend the night until dawn breaks and breakfast is assured.

Saturday night in the moonlight as I sat on my deck I detected a noise that I couldn’t quite identify. A few minutes later when I was no longer striving to make the identification it came to me. I had heard a buck trumpet twice and that meant the rut is on.

I looked out into the darkness a saw a doe grazing. Knowing she had not made the sound I continued to search for it’s source. In the patch of lush grass between our house and the nearest grove of trees and I saw a deer curled up on the grass chewing cud. Even in that lack of light where I could not clearly discern his antlers, there was no doubt in my mind that I was looking at a buck.

I quietly slipped across deck to the table trying not to spook him before I could really see him well. I seized the binoculars from the table and reached down and plugged in the string of Christmas lights along the edge of the deck roof. I moved forward slowly. I focused and then was delighted to see he had a magnificent rack. It’s no small feat for a buck to grow to that size in a community where the majority of deer are killed by cars, dogs and hunters.

I decided my husband would want to see this and went to get him. He is the primary keeper/feeder of the deer herd and he came out too to admire the buck, who will breed our alpha does this year. This buck won’t be alone. There will be another 3 year old buck that we have seen recently and we do expect too.

After awhile the buck, who was aware that he was being watched, rose and strutted majestically across the grass to the tree-line. No doubt he was on his way to check out the does in the other small herds nearby.