Oh, Deer

A few weeks ago, I came down the stairs at 5:15 in the morning.  Brett was out of town and I needed to be up early to do the chores before work.  As I turned to cut through the dining room on my way to the back door, I felt eyes watching me.  I looked out the dining room window and met the eyes of a doe, looking in at me.  She was standing on the driveway, at the edge of the porch.  I watched her walk around to the front of the house and then proceed to reach her nose into my climbing rose bush and take big mouthfuls of leaves.  I stepped out the front door and asked her to move along.  She looked at me, and walked off towards the back of the property.

I went back in the house, got my shoes on, and then went out to do chores with Kersey.  I figured the deer was long gone but Kersey took off like a bat out of hell -- towards the goats.  Hmm, I thought.  The deer went the other direction.  I wonder what she saw.  A few seconds later here came the deer.  Boing boing boing.  She bounded around the mare's pasture and headed for the front gate.  Kersey gave up the chase and sat in front of the barn, watching.  The deer reached the front gate and, instead of jumping over, turned and started walking up the stream bed.

I followed it all the way to the back pasture.  She reached the fence and then turned and came across the arena.

She saw me with the camera, turned and headed to the corner of the pasture fence and the arena area.  She tried to jump out there a number of times but couldn't clear the fence.  She would get a running start, leap, and smack into the fence.

Finally, she ran to the road side of the property and jumped out there.

The donkeys watched the whole affair with great interest.

The deer have been particularly brave this year.  I think it must be related to the drought -- they are looking for food and water.