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.
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.