Yesterday went to our metro area state park for our monthly photo club meeting. Even tho' it's right next to a freeway and across from the busy airport, the park is full of wildlife, scenic hiking trails and is bounded by the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, in fact, the Minnesota joins the Mississippi and long before the white man showed up, was considered a sacred place to the Dakota.
Back to my post. Approaching the visitor center from the parking lot, I spotted a good looking deer. There's a herd and about 30 in the park and very used to having people around. Still, I decided to get a long shot with my phone, in case he scampered off.
Zooming the camera app to it's max, I fired off the first shot.
Just as I was about to try and slowly move closer, the deer looked at me and started moving in my direction!! (OK, it is near the end of the rut, and maybe all my time at KB has caused the word PERV to appear on my forehead) So, I was a little concerned. I mean those antlers are sharp.
He allowed me to get several shots, fairly close and struck some nice poses too.
There is a couple in the photo club who are in the park nearly everyday. They've named all the deer and know who breed who. This fine chap is Tyson, four years old. Bright Eyes, a doe who's been around quite a while is his mom. I was told that as a fawn, he was observed being feisty when his mom was trying to move him somewhere. He got on his hind legs and "boxed" at mom with his front legs. Hence the Tyson name.
It was a hard year for the deer herd. The park flooded and was closed for six months. Even after it opened again in the fall more heavy rain closed both islands, where the deer herd up, once again. Now that things are frozen, the couple was able to do a survey. Only 8 fawns survived. At least 8 does are gone and they not doubt had fawns that they stayed with during the flood rather than leave them. Also several of the older large bucks are gone.