Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I was under a street light but the doe was crossing from the Creel/Richardson home's driveway to the driveway into World Peace Wetland Prairie where no street light stands and only the lights from another block down S. Duncan Avenue silhouetted her big ears, curious face and sleek body

She and I both stood still, she maybe wondering something I can't imagine and I moving my hand to my belt and considering whether to savor the moment or pull out the little digital camera and try to record it.
I was out front putting the garbage can in position for the automated city garbage truck and making sure the lids were secure on the recycling bins. A few nights back, maybe the previous Tuesday when the garbage was all in place,  I spotted her or a sibling of hers about the same distance in the other direction. That time I didn't get to watch her grazing in the Hoodenpyles' yard or getting to see her face looking at mine. That night, the probably watched me until I made noise and ran west across the street toward the northeast corner of World Peace Wetland Prairie.
My experiences with our neighborhood deer are matched all over Fayetteville by those of many other people. Not everyone wants the deer around. But most who describe their encounters with deer seem to be as awestruck by their beauty as I am.
The deer so plentiful today are the progeny of a restocking program around the middle of the 20th century after decades when Arkansas and Louisiana youngsters never got to see wild deer.

1 comment:

Vicky May said...

Early this morning, I had a close encounter with a yearling buck grazing on blackberry vines at the edge of the woods. I was within 12 feet of him and we made eye contact for several moments, but he didn;t run away. I felt a bit of remorse that he was not frightened of me. Next fall,or the one after that, he could regret not running from humans. But as it was at that moment, a special experience for me.