Changing Times

 

The one thing in life that remains constant is change.  Everything in our world is always changing and for the whitetail deer it is that time of year when they are making the change from their cold weather coat to the light coat of summer.  I photographed this yearling buck early this morning.  While parts of his face has lost the long hair of winter, the remainder of his face and his entire body is still covered by the now sun-bleached lifeless hair.

 

 

Also photographed this morning, a two year old buck grooms in the first rays of morning sunlight.  With his antlers growing rapidly now the buck has completed the transition to his thin, red, summer coat.  For the does, now is the time for birthing the new fawns.  While I have not yet seen any new fawns I have noticed a couple of does with plump udders; a sure sign that they have new-born fawns hidden nearby.

 

 

 

And while things are changing rapidly in the world of the whitetail deer, rapid change has been occurring in my life as well.  Instead of spending my spare time pursuing wildlife photography as I once did I am now using much of that time to manage the small herd of cattle and whip the farm into shape.  As the regular readers of Country Captures know some of my favorite wildlife shots are of deer and elk lip-curling during their respective ruts.  Now the rut can happen any day as evidenced by my new herd bull performing the lip-curl just the same as is done by his distant relatives in the wild.