In the several weeks since both my sons have left home, I’ve taken to running or long-walk-to-the-park-ing with Allie McBeagle in the mornings and a short trek around the block in the afternoons. Hey, she’s turning ten in a month. I can afford to slack off. Besides, Youngest Son trained her in the art of the “short walk” over the summer.
Last week, we (Allie and I) spied a doe and her fawn on the right side of the road, at the edge of an undeveloped lot. We were on the left side of the road. Allie was on her leash (busy car road), but because she’s nearly ten she doesn’t immediately alert (or care about doing so) to the deer like she did when she was little and she chased a deer in the neighboring orchard into the provincial park in the middle of winter and was thereafter lost for 6 hours until the orchard caretaker found her right where I screamed “Stay!” and brought her home.
Last week, she barely pricked her ears at the scent of the deer and fawn. As always, the sight left me in awe, and my natural inclination is to say, “Hi, guys” and even approach. But I’ve learned not to approach or even want to be around a doe when her fawn is around, or might be around, and you have a dog. So, I was in awe, but I was in a wee bit of terrified awe. I never ever thought I’d be afraid of Bambi’s mama. I thought deer were gentle creatures. But three or so weeks ago, My Liege and I were walking Allie in the huge provincial park near our house with a multitude of walking and biking trails…which the deer also love to traverse. We were doing the “short-short” walk (as opposed to the “long-short” walk), which took us off the main trail down to the road that overlooks a lake of many colors. There’s a portion of this highly used trail (by humans) that is very peaceful and ethereal. It’s hard to believe that in a few minutes you’ll come out to a view of road and/or the wide pedestrian pathway. During this walk, Allie was not on her leash. We always let her off-leash in the park and clip her back on if other dogs on leash approach or, heaven forbid, we see a bear (warnings of bear sightings are usually posted at the park’s entrance; no one’s ever posted a warning of a deer sighting—maybe they should). So, this walk she was off-leash. She was ahead of us and going up a little hill in the narrow path, when M.L. and I noticed, to the left of the path, a deer. Standing there looking very serene and peaceful.
“Well, hello,” I said (as is my way), and then, remembering the times Allie had tried to chase deer in her youth, I said to M.L., “Should we leash her?” I’m pretty sure he said yes. Because his next step was to go ahead and leash Allie while I stayed a few feet behind so as not to startle the doe. Because, you see, this doe had not taken kindly to our dog’s presence. Her nose was twitching and she pawed her front hooves (hoofs?) on the ground. It was clear she wanted to cross the path without any interference from us. And we were trying to be clear by standing absolutely still that we wanted her to. On the one hand, I wished I’d had a camera, because she would have made a beautiful shot. On the other hand, it was obvious there must be a fawn in the area, although we couldn’t see it. M.L. leashed the dog and kept her on a short leash, and the doe darted across the path and into the woods to our right…but didn’t take off completely. No, she started to stalk us. I’ve never experienced anything like this (my husband has been treed by a black bear and a moose, but normally wildlife loves me). We walked the path without looking straight on at the doe to our right. She continued following us, stamping her hooves and pawing the ground. At one point, I kid you not, I took the dog and M.L. picked up a large branch and shoved it at the doe to get her to stay off the path right behind us. Suddenly, my BFF’s stories about deers attacking humans in the communities around Victoria, B.C. weren’t so funny. Literally, I just LMAO’ed at the thought a couple of days previous. So the story goes, the deer are born on peoples’ property and so consider it their territory. Small dogs and cats are considered ON the deer’s property and can get in trouble/run down. Apparently, so can humans.
Our deer was most likely born in the provincial park. We never did see her fawn, but it’s safe to say the fawn was born in the park, too. Along with the bears and cougars and rattlesnakes we’d rather not encounter.
I’ll never again feel safe approaching a deer…unless my dog isn’t around. Then, okay, I’d give it a go. We often get them in our neighborhood, and we have “sit spots” in our huge back yard in winter. The deer sometimes leave “candy” (deer droppings that look like chocolate-covered raisins) our dog used to find irresistible. I know, disgusting, but there’s no accounting for a beagle’s taste. She also thinks four-week-dead fish smell amazing.
Have you ever had an encounter with a form of wildlife that surprised you? Last week, catching sight of the doe and fawn on the other side of the road, I just wanted to stand there and admire them. Instead, I kept my head down and a short leash on the beagle until we were safely out of sight. Because, believe me, that doe had her eyes trained on us every step of the way.
