White-tailed Deer
White-tailed deer are such gorgeous animals. Perhaps it’s because I fell in love with Bambi as a child that the sight of deer is always exciting to me. Of course, if driving at dusk or in the night, deer are the last creatures in the world that you want to see at the edge of the road. Travelling in Saskatchewan recently, driving between Regina and Saskatoon, I saw small groups of deer in the nearby fields at least a dozen times, not far from the highway, and I said my prayers that they would keep their distance.
If you happen to keep a country garden that is raided by deer, you will be at your wit’s end trying to keep them out during the growing season, and naturally hope never to see them. Yet despite the problems they can cause, for me, any glimpse I get is satisfying.
My all-time favourite memory of seeing white-tailed deer is from years back, yet the images from that sunny September day are still fresh in my mind. On a clear day in the fall, my husband and I were hiking along the sandy trails in Spruce Woods in Manitoba’s western parklands. The deer were bounding through the grasses, their tails up and ears erect. Though we could see them moving, they blended in spectacularly with their surroundings. I can still remember watching them move across the open prairie with the wide sky above and tall grasses on all sides.
North of the city where I live there is a large nature park. White-tailed deer are abundant here, and we see them frequently. Bitterly cold temperatures and deep snow have made this a tough winter, not just for deer but for all the forest animals.
Just a few weeks ago, returning to a parking lot after cross-country skiing through the park, my son and husband had the privilege of seeing some of the local deer along the edge of the forest, close to the summer picnic tables. My husband was close enough to photograph of a lovely pair of does.
Photos: AK
Text: NK
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