Nine and Counting
I arrived at our West Virginia cabin this past Sunday, March 16. Now early afternoon Wednesday, March 19, the rain pours down and I sit reflecting on the events that have shaped the last three and a half days. A lot has happened, which I’ll expound on in my next blog.
This is a story about the local white-tail deer that share our 19 acres. Since moving into the cabin a year ago, we have come to recognize the individual deer. The first regulars to the corn feeder we dubbed “Our Gang”. There were two fawns, now yearlings, and two adult mothers. We nicknamed the youngsters Darla and Alfalfa, and the mature mothers Dolly and Ruthie, for our own two mothers.
We watched them interact, and quickly knew the pecking order. It was Dolly, Ruthie, Alfalfa, then lastly, Darla. After a few months, another mother and six-month old showed up. They stood off 30 feet, waiting for Our Gang, the dominate group, to feed first. When the two groups got real close to one another, it got tense. Dolly would occasionally assert her authority with slashing hoofs. Sometimes we’d see this new aloof pair around the feeder, and sometimes not for a while. But it did bring the resident count to six deer.
Yesterday afternoon, the two work crews left around 4:30 after a good accomplishment day. Ten minutes later I walked past the kitchen window and noticed three deer partway up the hill, guessing them to be from “Our Gang”. Moments later, I looked up and saw another group coming in from a different direction. My pulse jumped.
Discreetly, I peered out the windows and finally settled on there being nine deer. The trough that holds the feed corn is six feet long, with accessibility from both sides. As many as six deer at a time were munching on corn or licking the new apple-flavored salt block located in the trough at one end. I was grinning ear to ear. I couldn’t wait to tell City Girl.
I stood and studied this menagerie of white-tail deer. There were four yearlings, three two-year olds, and two that were three years old or more - Dolly and Ruthie. The two year olds have a more immature face, with the snout still not extended like the older deer. I pondered these three two-year olds who would each be giving birth for the first time in about a month. They wouldn’t be teenagers anymore!
Then I saw the big picture. Dolly and Ruthie will each have a fawn, as will the three first-time mothers. That means pretty soon there will be five new fawns - learning, exploring, and bonding. That brings the local population to 13 deer. How exciting!
But then I wonder - will they all stick around? Will bossy Dolly share her domain or drive off the others? There’s a mountain behind our property with a few hundred acres. Surely, they share the mountain. Can’t they share coming to the feeder?
My attention turns back to the five pregnant does. Oh boy, new fawns are coming. I’m as ready as an expectant father!
- Mountain Man