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Oh, Deer!

Boy, I'll tell you....I didn't know how scary deer could be until a big ole buck jumped in front of my car last year during rut season.  Rut season, btw, is just a hunter's way of saying "deer getting busy" time.  I learned later that male deer are so wild with the need to reproduce that they will go for days hardly eating or sleeping but simply, literally, chasing tail.  This is what makes them act with wild abandon and not always see or care about the vehicles they are leaping in front of.

I do feel kind of bad for deer and other wildlife as our neighborhoods have encroached on their long-held dwelling places.

I'm not a hunter, but I don't criticize others who do it and actually use the meat for food.  I could never be into it myself as I think the idea of shooting something for sport is odd and disconcerting.  And besides that, I sometimes feel sad when I see a little fawn or doe peaking from the roadside.  They do look so gentle and majestic.

But they're also scary.  Read this article and you'll see the kind of damage they do including causing severe injury and death in road accidents.  Many folks, including my insurance adjuster, told me I was very lucky after my deer run-in to only have minor damages and no injury to me or my family.

But the one thing that accident gave me was this: deer-dar.  I now have some of the sharpest eyes ever for deer.  I know what times of day to look for them (usually around dawn and dusk) and where to look for them (usually in wooded areas recently cleared for development and around natural water sites).  And boy, do I look.

I don't have much to say about laws for hunting deer or how much people might like them for food, but I have a lot to say about not scaring the deer pee out of me again by hitting one!
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