Squee for today

skippymjp

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I was walking a old trail in Mammoth Cave National Park this afternoon, feeling myself melting in the heat, and stopped to take a breather. I didn't really notice the doe in the sense of looking for her, it just as though she was just suddenly there. It's neat how they can do that.




But after a couple of minutes, I started to think she might be hurt. Deer in the park are fairly used to people, but they still have a "minimum distance" they seem to like to keep, and she wasn't budging. She just lay there, staring holes through me. I snapped her photo and still, no reaction. I decided that I'd tell the Rangers when I got back into the Visitors area of the park.

But, I only walked about 10 feet, and that's when I found out why she wasn't moving. Her baby was all snuggled down into a small, muddy stream bed where it was obviously much cooler. And she was keeping an eye on him from her section of the stream. I've never been head butted by a deer before, and though I'd clear out before it happened...but I couldn't resist getting 1 picture of the little one before beatin' it back up the trail.
 

essayons89

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Nice. I always love seeing wildlife. One of the highlights for me was when I was working as a truck driver. Once a week I had to run up to Traverse City, Michigan. Once you get well above Grand Rapids the only things you see are the occasional small town and a lot of woods and lakes. Down by one of the lakes I saw my first bear in the wild. I got a thrill out of that.
 

natalie_ca

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Awww! What a sweet baby! And such a brave mama!! Amazing how nature works. She puts herself into harms way to protect her off spring! They say it's instinct, but I call it love!

EDIT: I just looked at the mama again. She is anything but relaxed in that pose! She is watching you keenly and is poised to get up in a hurry to run you off if you become a threat! hehe
 

Winchester

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Those are neat pictures. Mamas will do whatever it takes to protect their little ones.
 

ladyhitchhiker

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OMG! I've BEEN to the Mammoth Caves... I was about 10 at the time but it was awesome. It was a definitely worthwhile stop.
 

addiebee

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Ok, Mike, in deference to your title: Squuuuueeeeeeee!!!!


Wonderful pics, as always. I see deer here in Mom's backyard all the time - usually does and babies. Once in the 40+ years this house has been here I saw a buck. 8 points. magnificent animal. He was not afraid of me at all, but did move away when I took couple steps towards him.
 

pushylady

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How wonderful! I love the little white spots on the fawn. You can see what a good camoflage they are.
 

milk maid

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Lovely pics, lucky you had your camera, or do you carry one all the time just incase.
 

clixpix

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What gorgeous animals!
What a lucky find, and an absolute squeeeee!
 

nanner

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Wow!!!
How cool that you could get those pics of the lovely mama and her sweet fawn. I love hikes in the woods, especially when you get to see animals in their natural habitat!
 

butzie

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My Aunt Lotty always feeds wildlife, especially the birds and the deer. She names the deer and one summer we had the Pointer Sisters. I asked, "Aunt Lotty, do you know that there is a singing group of ladies called the Pointer Sisters (my favorites)?" Not a clue. Pretty deer.
 
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skippymjp

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Originally Posted by Milk maid

Lovely pics, lucky you had your camera, or do you carry one all the time just incase.
I was on one of my "photo walks" I take in the park sometimes, but I was cutting it short because it was so darned hot.
 

mrblanche

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We were surprised like that twice while we were at the Air Force Academy last week. Both times, large bucks (in velvet) walked right through the parking areas, with lots of people around.

No hunting on the grounds there, of course, is part of the reason.
 
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