The deer that live around the mill always converge on the hayfield behind the log deck in the fall and winter. This year I’ve counted as many as twenty at a time. I’ve accumulated some photos over the last few months. Typically, I’m not very close so the pictures are a little soft. They just went through the rut and the bucks will soon shed their antlers. Click on a picture to enlarge the gallery.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 
Beautiful animals and wonderful to see them free and alive 🙂
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Seeing them out in the hayfield never gets old!
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🎼”Working at the deer wash…” Ha ha!
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Hah! Get down Ilex, get down!
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Wow,, fantastic pictures! My favorite is the closeup of the doe.
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She was exceedingly cooperative!
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You were very fortunate! All great photos!
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The stag deer are so handsome and have some Impressive racks. I wonder if you have ever found an intact rack in the forest? Or do the other forest creatures begin chewing on them. My husband nailed some racks over a shed where he kept a portable welder. The squirrels leaned over as far as possible to gnaw on the antlers. I suppose they were after the calcium, which brings me to mind- I should look that up.
One more question. Is the irrigation for the benefit of the deer?
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I do find drop antlers once and awhile. They’re usually chewed on by rodents. Sometimes we find intact ones. We give the chewed and little ones to the dogs for chewies. The irrigation is for the hay grass and alfalfa. That’s what brings the deer in. This field is on our mill site, so no one hunts them. It makes the deer a little comfortable around people.
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A lovely this to do for the deer.
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Beautiful animals, they look so gentle, especially with those big brown eyes, but I suspect they wouldn’t take kindly to a human getting too close during the rut!
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It’s funny, but I can get much closer to them in the rut. The bucks are oblivious to everything, but the does. Although, I wouldn’t want to annoy them at that time. The pictures of the buck with his nose down is him trying to snips the girls. He says they smell nice.
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That makes sense – we once got very close to a notoriously shy bird who was dancing for a girl, he was totally oblivious to us! (I’m sure the deer smell better to one another than they would to us …)
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No doubt. 😷
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What a nice set of pictures. I sure would love to find some of the antlers from the deer I photographed in the yard. I did find a small 2 tine antler one May while looking for mushrooms that surprisingly wasn’t too chewed up. I have it sitting on a ledge below the window in my guest room.
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There’s a grove of trees these deer hang out in. I might sneak out there in a couple weeks with Bliss. She ought to be able to sniff some out.
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