My last post was a photo of this same buck, seen through a narrow opening in the woods. He was tending a doe in a muddy lowland area and never presented himself in a clearing. It was a constant struggle against clutter - trying to snap a shot without branches, shadows and treetrunks obstructing his dandy rack.
I snapped the above photo by rattling him in while a doe group was meandering in the area. When he walked on to the gravel road my heart raced because he was not only close--perhaps 15 yards--but was glaringly visible. Not a single obstruction.
What's particularly strange to me is that you can see his hooves, something normally hidden by grass or mud. Not only is this a strange reminder that nimble footed deer are trotting around the wilderness on what look like high heels, it makes this buck appear almost naked, as if a deer normally wears the forest, or the field. This raises the fundamental question: are animals in general "naked"? Or is fur like a kind of "clothing".
These are the things you think about when you're waiting for deer.
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