Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Standing Tall



A nice Whitetail Buck stands erect shaking his antlers in the overhanging pine bough

After 30 seconds or so of standing erect the buck dropped to all fours and began making a scrape. With the colder weather the pre-rut activity is picking up swiftly. I expect it will be another week or two before many of the does come into estrus.

For those of you who must drive through whitetail habitat; do so carefully. The next few weeks are the most dangerous time of the year for both the deer and the automobiles. I know from experience.

Living in deer country and traveling a lot during the hours of darkness I have collided with more than my share over the past few decades. Just this past Saturday evening as I topped a small rise three deer darted into the path of my car. With no time to stop I braked hard. At impact the deer was thrown into the air falling on the left-hand berm dieing. The results: one dead deer and $900 damage.


8 comments:

Unknown said...

Down here its our panthers. And yes, with them it's at night too. But I don't think there's a seasonal pattern. That's interesting how it is with the deer.

me ann my camera said...

This is a fascinating picture. We also have a lot of White-tailed deer in my area too and sometimes they stroll into my yard for a launch, as is shown in a couple of my recent posts.
The wildlife pictures on your blog are great. Glad that I found it.
Nature Tales and Camera Trails

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: What a neat shot of the buck with the antlers way up high. I thought they just did low branches. Amazing!!!

Shelley said...

glad you were okay after hitting that deer! My dad once rolled the family van in trying to veer & stop to avoid a deer. The cop who arrived on the scene told him "next time - hit em!" - it's a lot safer. I'm not sure.....

Anonymous said...

Nice photography. I really like the pictures of these animals.

I am doing something different on my Gordon, Ohio blog. I set out to photograph and describe every house in the village where I was born.

Gordon, Ohio

photowannabe said...

Groan.....so sorry for all concerned.

Meggie said...

So sorry to hear about your collision, Salty. I, myself, have had three and can't say I look forward to another. Tonight as I drove home, I was almost traveling at a snail's pace being so careful to watchlout for those crazy deer. Hope you weren't hurt in the accident.

Wolf Lover Girl said...

I was visiting one of our offices in PA and the topic of deers in the street came up. I asked them about just avoiding them and they told me not to. Basically what the cop told you - hit em. They said that the insurance companies don't really care if you put your car in the ditch trying to avoid a deer. I still think I would have tried to swerve if I came upon one. Sorry there was so much damage to your car.

~ Wolf Lover Girl