OUR FRIENDS, THE GENTLE MULE DEER.
(Turn up the volume, this is my first video with music.)
This is one of several small groups of mule deer that come and go in our neighborhood. It's been fun as we've observed them through the years. We have seen some that are lame probably from either being chased and bitten or by injuring themselves when jumping over barbed wire fencing. We had a partial skeleton on the property one time and other day there was a mule deer leg in the middle of the street. It disappeared the next day and then showed up again the next. I just realized that it may have been a different leg. So, there are also predators around, We haven't seen those. I imagine that drama takes places in darkness. It's either coyotes or a mountain lion. I think we would hear coyotes, so it makes me wonder if there is a mountain lion in the vicinity.
Yesterday, the little herd nestled down in a protected grassy spot on our hillside. I was able to clearly see the head of one of them as it studiously chewed it's cud. Yes, deer have multiple stomachs, like cows. Chewing the cud is how cud chewers are able to get the maximum amount of nutrients from their vegetative meals. This link provides a lot of good information about mule deer. After living with these gentle creatures for so many years, I finally know something about them. It would be so cool to see a fawn sometime, but we never do although we do see them after they are more like in the juvenile stage.
Well, this is a short one. Merle went to get us Subway meatball salads and we are going to watch "3:10 to Yuma" - again. We already saw it at the theatre. It's a good movie - pretty violent in parts, but nevertheless very entertaining.
Be a "deer" and come back for a visit................
