Racks!

It all started when we were eating breakfast this morning and Dave saw two deer go running through our backyard, one of which looked to be a 6 point buck. I decided to take a ride in the golf cart in the woods to see if I could find them, and what a surprise to find not only the buck, but another larger male laying down close by. I stopped a safe distance away and we had a bit of a stare off until they (and I) spotted a doe wandering in the distance. The one buck got up and wow is he huge! He has at least 8 points on his antlers. Everyone went their own way and I headed back to tell Dave about my exciting sighting. Since I didn't have my camera with me at the time, I decided to walk back out with it and not disturb them with the sound of the golf cart's engine. Almost immediately I came across the doe, who decided to check ME out. I have a feeling it is the same one from a couple of days ago when I stopped in the golf cart when I saw two does and two fawns, and it almost came right up to me. I apologize for all my blurry photos but the mosquitos and gnats were out in force and I guess I was so excited (and a bit nervous) that I didn't hold the camera still enough.

The doe went around me and up one of the trails, and shortly thereafter I saw the two bucks. The smaller one was closer to me and we had another stare off, but when it started to stomp one of its feet as a warning, I was the one to back off...not a lot, but just enough. That's when I noticed several more deer heading up the trail towards the one I have named 'King', the big male. It looked to be two fawns and a doe, until I realized it wasn't a doe, because it too had a rack of antlers! Three sets of racks in our woods is something we had never seen before! I watched from afar as the fawns played around in the streak of sunlight, but my zoomed photos didn't come out well at all. However, if you click and zoom in on the right of the last photo below, you can see the size of the deer and its big rack. 

They all meandered off deeper into the woods and I couldn't wait to get back to tell Dave about my discovery. What a great experience, right in our own backyard! Now we can say, "the buck stops here!" 😉  I'm just glad that I didn't run into the black bear that was seen in our neighborhood two days ago. Perhaps that's why the fawns were hanging out with the deer that could protect them with their antlers.