Randy,
Our back yard upbutts a big ag field and is basically a sanctuary. The woods around it where the deer bed don’t get hunted. Have 50 plus deer in the field at one time sometimes. Sit out with the camera taking pictures a lot of evenings on the edge of it and have a neighbor who watches it every night from their deck. Have deer that wander through our neighborhood and between my yard and both neighbors on either side we can have up to 15-20 deer in the yards at one time. Between the Apple trees, fruit trees and oaks dropping acorns combined with the clover in the yards, it’s like a magnet when they get sick of the beans or corn in the field. Do a lot in the backyard and have deer that are so accustomed to me am regularly with 10-15 yards of deer. Get to know them and each one has a different tolerance level. But there’s one ancient doe. She’s mean, she’s a hitter. The spot I sit and photograph the field, many times she’ll pass by me under 15 yards. She fully knows I’m there, but she doesn’t like it at all. She will constantly keep me in view and give me the hairy eyeball. These deer are not hunted much at all and acclimated to humans, dogs, vehicles, tractors, atv’s, mowers, blowers, weed whips, etc. The neighbor saw her attack a full grown big coyote going after a fawn in the backyard one day and knock the thing senseless. I’ve watched her chase coyotes and have seen her defend other does fawns. In the fall she rarely gets under 80 yards from me and will constantly keep an eye on me, even though she is acclimated to me taking pics from my spot. It gets annoying how there’ll be 30 plus deer out and she is the only that is constantly glaring my way. She’s the lead herd cow and we are curious when she finally is no more, if there’s any other doe that’ll fill her shoes. Since she’s been around the deer herd went from a solid 38 deer tops in the field for decades, now it’s spiked to 50 plus. Doubt that’s because of her, but it seems interesting since we’ve all noticed her, the deer numbers and fawn survival rate seems to have drastically increased, even though we have a lot of coyotes andnow resident bears. One landowner a few miles away has 5 bears on his property and thinks they are staying around because of the high volume of fawns every year we have now. The fawn survival rate and deer numbers probably have nothing to do with her, but who knows. Even in an area with little to no hunting, she’s still wickedly tuned into everything. She’ll clear the field if she deems it necessary. Have seen every deer in the field leave if she does, and some are a half mile away from her. The older bucks will leave the field if she starts acting funny. She’s an intelligent, interesting deer and it’s been fascinating watching her on a weekly basis. Her hatred for coyotes and how she goes after them is mind boggling. Coyotes even know if she starts coming their way they will vacate the area. No other deer bother them, but if she starts heading their direction they are gone. A lead doe is probably good for the deer herd, but holy carp are they hard to hunt around. Even if it’s just with a camera in an area that’s basically a sanctuary. Have been bluff charged by bucks in full rut, and know how spooky that was. She makes me just about as nervous cause she’s so protective and ornery. And yet she’s spooky as the day is long. Anything that is just a little out of the ordinary and she’s on full alert for the rest of the evening. She’s relentlessly aware. And that has never changed and foreseeably never will.
rookie mistake I know.