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May 12, 2004
Oh, Deer
Writer's block is always a great excuse to pick up and leave; to dust the brain, to concentrate on proposal writing, and of course to check on the deer in Pennsylvania. My trip was seat-of-the-pants and completely unplanned, but I don't shy away from traipsing elsewhere when I can do it.
While en route I passed four deer carcasses laying in the grass on the side of the road. Though I've seen this before, I've never seen four of them, one right after the other. I had high hopes that I wouldn't encounter more after that. After a few hours of travel time, I arrived, settled in and began the work on my to-do list. There must be something about being out of my day-to-day surroundings that helps remove the writer's block. Later on I went outside to survey the state of the deer population.
I grabbed the plastic container and filled it up with corn, then spread the corn out for the deer. The last time I was in Pennsylvania I had 9 deer that stopped by for a visit. This time around only 3 of the 9 showed up to eat. I left them to their meal and decided to go for a stroll. A walk around the neighborhood brought a sad reality. I saw the remains of three deer in the immediate area, just a pile of deer hair left, not even skeletal remains. Even though I know that deer jump out into roads and in front of passing cars, it doesn't make seeing remains any easier. This sorrowful moment did, however, have a bright side to it. In the group I fed, there among the hungry animals, heads down deep into the mud, was one of the first deer I had fed - some 4 years ago. It's easy to spot her; she has a bum leg and walks with a pronounced limp. She's a tough chick, that one. By the time I left Pennsylvania, 6 out of 9 had stopped by for a meal, and that's not too bad, all things considered.
Did I mention that the bears are out of hibernation?
Cindy
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Comments
Bummer! Were all the deaths auto-related or could the bears have had something to do with it?
Brain matter deposited by: Kat on May 12, 2004 12:53 PM
you're back! lovely photo, cinders - and i'm sorry about the dead deer, but that's life, isn't it. just make sure that no bear comes up and eats you - you are a rather sweet-looking thang ;)
Brain matter deposited by: zed on May 12, 2004 2:42 PM
Kat - there's no way to know if it was death by auto or by bear...
either way it was not a pretty sight.
Zoe - yup, that one's a cutie. As for the bears, they're not much fun to run into, though from a safe distance they're interesting to watch.
Brain matter deposited by: Cindy on May 12, 2004 6:23 PM
When I was a kid we had a (dunno what the correct collective word is) bunch of kangaroos that hung around. They used to drink from our dam and talk to the cow. I was always sorry when one appeared at the side of the road. Here there is no risk of bears and the only effective killer of kangaroos was cars (and even then the cars take a hell of a lot of damage).....
Brain matter deposited by: Ozguru on May 12, 2004 8:37 PM
Do the bears not come looking for food too?
Brain matter deposited by: Daisy on May 13, 2004 9:48 AM