Sunday, February 21, 2010

Deer Find a Home in the Storm



During the recent blizzards a herd of deer found a home in our backyard.  My favorite little guy, Little Deer, was out there, along with other older fawns, does, and several bucks.  There's a patch of cedar trees that block some of the snow and the deer like to congregate there.  They love to eat the cedar trees.  Also, we have an old barn way out there which we are not using, and we keep the door open for any animals which need shelter from the weather.  I don't think the deer really go into the barn, mostly it's used only by birds, but it's there if they need it.


One of the bucks left an antler behind.

9 comments:

AJ-OAKS said...

I can only imagine how breathtaking it is to see the deer so close. You are such a kind soul to leave the door for the wildlife to seek shelter if wanted. How cool to find an antler! :)

Genny said...

That's a huge horn. Do they shed their horns every year and grow a new set? The deer are beautiful, and I'm sure some animals appreciate having a sheltered place to overnight in your old barn.

Knatolee said...

Hey, thanks for visiting my blog! Your farm sounds wonderful and I'm going to have a good look around your blog. Also I'm jealous of your antler. With all the deer we have around here, I can't believe I haven't found any antlers in our woods yet! Just bones...

Randy said...

Cindy - You know you'd leave the barn door open, too, if you had an available old barn! If we ever get other animals (like llama, donkeys, cattle, or alpacas) I'm sure the deer will stop visiting us!

Genny - Yes, our deer are whitetail, and they shed the horns every year and grow a new pair. This horn was still bloody at the end where it came off the buck's head when my husband found it, so it had just come off. I feel bad for them when they lost one antler, but still have one in place - how uneven!

Knatolee - I guess we've been lucky, we now have a collection of antlers. Plus we have found lots of bones, too. I love the chicken on your shoulder pic in your profile!

~ Lynn

Danni said...

Oh look!! One of those big deer left you an antler as a gift for letting them graze on your property! That's a really big honor, you know. :-)

jalynn01 said...

I loved seeing your deer herd.. I have only one small buck (6 point) visiting my back yard and I'm hoping he will leave me a horn...but that has never happened before so I doubt it will. I mostly have does. Nice post!!
Jalynn

Robin said...

What are you going to do with all your antlers?

Randy said...

Jalynn, we also seemed to mostly have does visiting, but when the big snow storms hit recently, several bucks showed up and are still hanging out.

Robin, maybe I should make one of the those antler lamps??!!

-Lynn

DayPhoto said...

Lynn, if you get enough antlers maybe you could start creating with them-tables, lights, big pillars stacks for your gate.

We have deer that feed with the cows, and the rest of the year they live in the corn fields. If you google us you can see the 'crop circles' they create in the corn fields.

Linda

http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/