deer and their offspring are a common occurrence in our backyard, they can be see grazing on the grass or the veggies/fruit/bread that I am known for tossing out back daily, if not twice a day.
last night was my first ever encounter with a baby deer that not only was aware of my presence but that was clearly not afraid of me. I was not aware that a deer stamps his/her hooves as warnings — until yesterday evening.
While making dinner and chit-chatting with the BF, I was in the kitchen and happened to glance to my left to see two young deer (still have their spots, but are now the size of a large dog) chompin away at the goodies in our yard. Typically, the babies will see us — start a staring contest for about 30 seconds and then either dart away or go back to grazing. The staring contest started (both babies) and after a short 10 seconds, the bigger of the two went back to grazing while the other one began stomping his/her front hoof — repeatedly. Not only was he/she stomping while staring at me, but he/she was taking a step towards me with each stomp! So what did I do you ask?
I kept staring, AND I got a little closer to the window…amazed at the defiance and the overall bravery of this wee deer. We did this dance for about two minutes before the deer darted the other direction but didn’t go very far…turned around, stared at me some more, and then was scared off by something coming from the front of the house (someone likes to bang a pot or something to scare them off, it’s annoying) and bound away with his/her sibling back into the woods.
I’m not sure if I’m impressed by this stand-off or concerned for the overall safety of this baby deer. Bambi was showing he’s got a good set of ca-hones. You go Bambi — GET SOME.
The Yarn Cabinet 