Deer, Deer, Deer

Many of my runs at this time of the year is done in a cemetary that is located only 3/10ths of a mile away from my house. It has several paved roads that I use to get in my mileage. Not only is it a nice tranquil setting but running there allows me to stay off the busy streets at this time of day when many people are heading home from work.

The cemetary has several large trees that produce some nice acorns and as a result they attract both the squirrels and the deer. I have been able to identify that there are at least 12 deer that are living in the woods around the cemetary. This includes at least one buck (possibly two), four doe and about seven fawn.

The size of these deer are considerably smaller than the ones that I have been used to seeing when living in the North. Even the largest of these would only be 100 pounds. The fawns are several months old but still only about 30 pounds. They easily can be hidden in the cemetary behind a small grave marker; they are that small.

Being regular in my running there each evening, combined with the attraction of this ample supply of nuts, the deer have become more and more familiar with me and are not as quick to run away. Within the last week, a mother and two fawn have started to stay close to my path and only look up as I pass by them with each loop of the course. Every night I run and every night this family is there. Probably because of the fact I do keep passing them several times during the same run, their confidence in feeling safe with me has increased. I have mixed emotions about this. While I personally am no threat to their safety, there definitely would be others in the community who would love to hunt these beautiful deer. Most likely several of them will be killed while straying away from the cemetary onto the busy roads that are close by.