Julie, I apologize for hogging the blog with photos—but I don’t know how else to share this story.
I am still not satisfied with my low-light shots, so this morning I went to the edge of the woods to play with my settings—just shooting the trees in the morning sunlight. I am not quite to the top of a hill (a hill for FL) and the woods drop below me. I’m low to the ground, with my glasses off, so I can’t see very well except through the camera lens. As I’m taking photos of trees, here’s what happened:
A little head popped out over the top of the hill—the rest was just plain amazing!
This deer came out of the cover and darkness of the woods to check me out! How cool is that?
Yep! Not one, but two deer came out to see me! Yes, they knew I was there—I was there first, so this was done on purpose. I was not in their normal morning path.
Do you happen to see a little head poking out on the left? Yep, another one is joining the party! I never realized that I was so fascinating—Julie, why haven’t you ever mentioned this?!?
OK. By the time the fourth deer came out of the woods, I could barely contain myself. They were nervous, but curious—lip licking and some ground sniffing going on. Really cool to watch! Very little foot stamping though.
I could not believe how close the four had gotten to me. They completely left the cover of the woods and were out in the open.
This one came even closer. The moring sun was shining on its coat—it was absolutely gorgeous. And then my camera locked up! Aaack! I was shooting in manual mode, but using auto-focus since I don’t see very well. The deer looked perfectly focused to me, but I guess the sensor would not lock to take the darn photo. Maybe the deer was too close? I don’t know—but as I squatted there saying some choice words, this deer just kept standing there looking at me. I had enough time to switch to manual focus and was able to take the above photo. Maybe the deer come out of the woods to watch the idiot who talks to herself?
Was it something I said? Guess they became bored with me.
And off they went…
The three met up with their fourth pal towards the bottom of the hill. See the little head on the far right? Today, I felt truly blessed.
Carole – what a lovely, touching story. I love the look on all the deer’s faces. They are such amazing creatures. I’ve been blessed to have had deer around in every place I’ve lived. They hung out in the pasture with the horses last summer and made the mistake of going into my donkey’s pasture and he said no freakin’ way and chased them out. I’ll have to send a photo of my boy, Jackson, he is a hoot! Thank you for sharing such lovely photos! I’ve enjoyed them immensely!!
Well, Carole, you really did it this time! These photos are evocative of a magical, lovely dreamscape. There is something otherworldly about them, almost as though, for a fleeting moment, you made time stand still.
Julie has told me often enough how blest she is to know you, how interesting, smart . . . . well, you get the idea. I think she just doesn’t want your head to get so big that you can’t wear your sun hats to protect you from that fierce Florida sun.
I really shouldn’t have to remind you, Carole, of all people, but in #7, you got so excited and nervous that you stacked Bambi’s rear legs incorrectly. Maybe you need to put some cinder blocks out there in the back forty and practice a bit more ’til you get it right. Ha ha ha!!!
Margot, you are just too sweet! Thank you for the great compliments.
It is funny that you should mention #7—that is exactly what I was thinking when I took the photo! It is funny how even when shooting wildlife, I’m still thinking GSDs. I’ll try to work on stacking Bambi better next time. The cinder blocks should be fun to use! 🙂
Carole, those photos are just lovely. Deer are beautiful creatures – the photos capture their fragility and curious natures perfectly.
I miss having deer in the backyard. I grew up on a farm and not a day goes by that I don’t rue living in the city now. We have plenty of opportunistic raccoons and possums, but it’s not quite the same….
ALL RIGHT CAROLE … IF YOU DON’T MIND ME ASKING YOU?? WHERE DO YOU LIVE IN FLORIDA?? THAT YOU HAVE ALL THESE WONDERFUL WILDLIFE CREATURES RIGHT OUT YOUR BACK DOOR !!! I’VE BEEN TO NAPLES, MARCO ISLAND AND ALL ALONG THE GULF SIDE.I SURE DID NOT SEE ANYTHING LIKE THIS WHILE I WAS THERE.
Cheryl, that is because you went to the wrong part of Flordia! Julie H. will be fired up over that comment. Actually, you can see this type of wildlife anywhere in FL—it is just a well-kept secret.
I live in DeLand, about 20 minutes east of Daytona Beach. Our property is close to the edge of a National Wildlife Refuge that borders the Ocala National Forest.
Florida is still thick with woods and farmland—it is just that when most people come here for vacation, they miss the true FL.
Whoops! I do know my directions—that should have been 20 minutes West of Daytona Beach! Otherwise, I’d be swimming with the fishes!
Margot said it best —mystical photos! It is always amazing when “prey” animals get curious about humans. They are by nature twitchy. They do hunt deer in Florida right?
Deer are elegant and beautiful, but to me they are over-sized rodents. They believe all my landscaping and gardening attempts are efforts on their behalf, also-known-as Julie’s salad bar. Then there are the 5,000 tulips I broke my back planting on Fall only to never see a single bloom. But oddly the next seasons deer meat tasted like tulips…
I live in the land of rednecks—of course deer are hunted here!
I do understand your frustration with Julie’s salad bar. I guess the deer thought that the 5,000 tulips were planted just for them! But still—you ate Bambi?
Carole I guess I was on the wrong side of the state. I needed to be on the Atlantic side! I’m sorry I hope Julie H will not be upset with you.
Great shots Carole, just lovely. You know I live west of you right? Actually, Southwest. Best update your maps, Rudi doesn’t begin his SAR training until next month. Don’t want you to get lost in the woods. 🙂
You are right though, people don’t realize Florida is not all “Magic” and space (shuttle/very cool), bikini clad beaches complete with bikers (that would be your beach) and casinos. Florida has an abundence of diverse wildlife, while agriculture & ranching is huge business. Still amazing to me after 17 years is how close Peter and I live to a unique wilderness eco-system found no where else on earth, the Everglades. Our deer are the key deer. Much smaller and thought to be a subspecies of the white-tailed deer I believe. Pretty sure they are only allowed to be shot with a camera as they are endangered.