Monday – Oh, Deer! Oh, Deer! I have Twins!

[ninanevermore]

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In the past I have railed against the deer that are constantly invading my back yard and munching on whatever sort of vegetation I am trying to cultivate back there. Now they have really crossed the line, though. When they ate my passion vine, I was annoyed. When they ate my rose bush, I was irate. But now that one of them has slipped into by back yard and given birth to twins, I am filled with something that can only be described as "Awwwwwww."

Damn it. They are just too cute.



My stepmother used to volunteer as a wildlife rehabilitator, so I called her for advice. This turned out to be a huge mistake. On one hand, she found the phone number for a local wildlife expert, which was helpful. The bad part was, she wanted to come over and see them, which meant I had to clean my house.

House keeping is not one of my talents. It's been a couple of years since my father and his wife have visited me at home (I always visit their house, instead). Since they were coming over, I had to clean the place up. Not that they were coming to see me, their grandchild, or the house for that matter. They were coming to see my yard-guests in all their wobbly-legged charm.



Mind you, my guests are not easy to find if you don't know what to look for. They blend into the foliage quite well, looking like specks of dappled sunlight in the leaves.



Over the weekend, I became a pretty good deer hunter, though, so long as the deer weigh about 10 pounds and the only thing I am shooting at them is a camera.



As young as they are, you can walk right up to them and pet them. The wildlife expert I called told me this is not a problem (which is good, because my neighbors have been reaching through and over the fence to do this), as their mother will clean off any yucky human scent she finds on them. She is close by, I was told, and comes into the yard at dusk and dawn to nurse them. If I were to do something to make one of her babies cry out, I would hear her snort and beat her hooves on the ground from where she is hiding.



When they get old enough that they run at the sight of us, she advised me to open the gate to the back yard so they can walk out. A 4 foot tall chain link fence can be dangerous for a young deer to try to jump over.

"Their hooves can get caught in the links, and that's not a sight you want to walk out and find in the morning," she told me, "But for now, while they're this small, leave the gate closed so they're safe. Obviously, their mama felt they would be okay in your yard, so we'll trust her instincts."

So for the next week or two, my back yard is a daycare center of sorts. And the next time I gripe about the neighborhood deer, please know I am not complaining about these two. These are my deer; it's all those other deer that I hate.


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Comments

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwww Bambi!

Or venison...

:D

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Not very much venison: I would say they weigh slightly less than the average house cat at this point. Besides, once you look into their big, soft, brown eyes it becomes physically impossible to do them harm. I think they hypnotize you or something. :)

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Yes... So soulful and cute :D

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwww

They are sweet little critters.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Aren't they? :D

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I guess you should take it as a compliment.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I could, or I could take it as an insult to my geriatric dog. She is arthritic, partially blind, and mostly deaf. A couple years ago, she would not have allowed any deer to stay in the yard long enough to look around, much less to give birth. Now she doesn't even pay attention to these two invaders.

[rumble-bumble.livejournal.com]

aw my god they are so adorable. you're right the only thing you can say is AAAAWWWWW! :D

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I know they are going to grow up to eat my garden, yet I adore them anyway. I can't help it. :)

[mersipan.livejournal.com]

Aww yay! This post made my day. So cute :) I think you should submit that last pic to cuteoverload.com!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should.

Having them in my yard makes for some once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunities. If I live another 100 years, I don't think I'll ever be able to get close enough to a deer to take another picture like that without a very powerful telephoto lens (which I don't have). :D

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

cute! but a wildlife expert told you it was ok to pet them?! Yeah, deer are one of the biggest carriers of lyme disease ticks in the US. Seriously, we treat them for ticks up here. So, check yourself every time you come in if you've had contact with them. I'm not trying to be debbie downer, but lyme disease is no fun, trust me. Still, I wish deer would have babies in my yard.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Lyme disease is more of a problem in the Northeastern US and Canada. I think we have a different breed of tick down here.

My neighbors have petted them more than I have. One of them will tolerate it, the other won't.

[georgiaskydiver.livejournal.com]

AWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

But I'm glad they're in your back yard rather than mine. ;)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Our house is on 2 lots, so our back yard is kind of on the huge side, and you have to look in order to find them. There's plenty of space for them and me both for the next two week (after which I'll open the back gate and let them roam).

[broken-alice.livejournal.com]

I just exploded from cute!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel. It happens to me every time I step in my yard these days. :)

[basketcaselady.livejournal.com]

You are just like all those other deer moms who thinks her deer are angels and so precious.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I am, though I consider myself more of a deer aunt or a deer godmother. Their real mom takes care of feeding and cleaning up after them, and I just get to chase after them and take cute pictures. ^_^

[stratkitten.livejournal.com]

Just...just....
AWWWWWWWW!!! *sniff* That last picture....it's as if the little one's saying "The world is so big, and I'm so little..."

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

*nods*

[woohag.livejournal.com]

AWWW! I love them, all wobbly. :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

For something so wobbly, they can run pretty fast, though. Then they get tired and you can pet them. :)

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

How cute are they?!?!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Damn cute! The cutest! That's how cute they are. :)

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

SO adorable

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I know! So much for keeping deer out of my yard: now they think I'm running a nursery. If this gets out and their mom tells her friends about my place, this kind of thing could start happening every spring.

Which would just charm the socks off of me, to be honest

[simplecity2htwn.livejournal.com]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooow!!! Is there any concern that they may become "domesticated" because your life provides them relative safety from all the regular things they might encounter?

The cute factor on this experience is very very high.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Not really. In order to domesticate them, we would have to pen them in and bottle feed them. We are just letting them hide in our yard, and their mother comes in to take care of them at night. The only reason we can pet them right now (and only if you approach them very gingerly and they are in the mood for that kind of thing) is because at this point in their life, their "defense" is to lie very still and try to be invisible. We are leaving the gate closed only to keep large dogs and any other predators out until they are big enough to run from them instead of lie still and be killed.

In the next week or two as they get bigger, they won't let us touch them any more and we won't push the issue. When they start running and jumping and generally acting like you would expect a deer to act, we'll set them lose on the world and they will be as wild as any other deer. At least, that's what the rehab lady told me. :)

[callmekili.livejournal.com]

omg, thats so cool... and they are adorable! how great to see up close one of natures wonders!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I can't get pictures this close of them any more - they won't let me near enough. I'm going to open the back gate this weekend, if not sooner. :)

[simplecity2htwn.livejournal.com]

Are they still there?

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Jeff opened the gate yesterday, but I don't know if they've taken advantage of that. He wants to mow the back lawn, but is afraid to because they tend to freak out now when they get scared and run face first into the chain link fence, which is painful to watch. They looked stunned and stagger a bit, then take off in another direction and (often as not) plow into the fence further down, making you feel like a jerk for spooking them.

He'd ready for them to leave.