Maya, Della, and deer

I wasn't going to walk today, but I'm glad I did. Upcoming bad weather may keep me in for a few days if it materializes, so I knew I should get in as much exercise I can while the sun is still shining. And as I always do, I felt better afterwards. But I wasn't up for a big challenge so I took my two best girls and planned to do an easy two miler.

We covered familiar ground, but still had a very unique experience when we came upon at least three deer. It's not unusual to see deer on our walks, but usually all we see is the white tail above their butt as they are disappearing into the distance. We must have been particularly stealthy today because we surprised these deer as much as they surprised us. We were just walking down the trail when they seemed to spring up out of no where, not more than 15 feet away from us. They went in three different directions, but one of them didn't go very far at all. He just stood and stared at us with that "deer-in-the-headlights" look. He may have believed that we couldn't see him and he had a pretty solid basis for that belief. Their camouflage is damn near perfect in a wooded area. He stood so still for so long that I actually had the opportunity to zoom my camera in on him, but he's still difficult to see in the pictures.

Della was cool, thank goodness. Maya was standing on her hind legs at the end of her leash, unable to believe that Della and I weren't interested in pursing them. We went on our way and let the deer get back to their business.

Even knowing that it's there I have to look closely to pick out the deer.