The Deer King

Long ago in a forgotten forest, lived a deer named Banyan. He was golden like the sun and his horns glistened like silver. His body was as large as a colt and his eyes sparkled like jewels-alight with wisdom. He was a King of Deer and watched over a herd of 500 deer.

Not far away, another herd of deer was watched over by another golden deer named Branch. In the tall grass and shadows of the deep forest, the two herds lived in peace.


One day, the King of Benares was out on a hunt and spied the beautiful green forest where the deer lived. "What a perfect hunting ground!" he declared and into the forests he dashed with his thousands of hunters and came upon the two herds of deer. Without a moment's hesitation, he notched an arrow in his bow. Suddenly he spotted the two golden deer. Never had he seen such beautiful creatures! "From this day on," he commanded, "No one is to harm or kill these golden deer."

Thereafter, he came to the forest everyday and killed more deer than was needed for his dinner table. As the weeks went by, many deer were wounded and died in great pain.

Finally Banyan Deer called the two herds together, "Friends, we know there is no escape from death, but this needless killing can be prevented. Let the deer take turns going to the chopping block, one day from my herd and the next day from Branch's herd."

All the deer agreed. Each day the deer whose turn it was went to the chopping block on the edge of the forest and laid its head upon the block.

One day, the turn fell to a pregnant doe from Branch's herd. She went to Branch Deer and begged, "Grant that I be passed over until after my fawn is born. Then I will gladly take my turn." Branch Deer replied, "It is your turn. You must go."

In despair, the poor doe went to Banyan Deer and explained her plight. He gently said, "Go rest in peace. I will put your turn upon another." The deer king went and laid his golden head upon the chopping block. A deep silence fell in the forest.

When the king of Benares came and saw the golden deer ready for sacrifice, his heart skipped a beat, "You are the leader of the herd," he exclaimed, "You should be the last to die!" Banyan Deer explained how he had come to save the life of the doe.
A tear rolled down the cheek of the king. "Golden Deer King," he exclaimed. "Among men and beasts, I have not seen one with such compassion. Arise! I spare both your life and hers. "

"So we will be safe. But what shall the rest of the deer do?" "Their lives I shall also spare." "So the deer will be safe, but what will the other four-footed animals do?" "From now on they too will be safe." "And what of the birds?" "I will spare their lives." "And the fish in the water" "The fish shall be spared- all creatures of the land, sea, and sky will be free."

Having saved the lives of all creatures, the golden deer raised his head from the chopping block and returned to the forest.

A Buddhist tale found on the web at

http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm

Max is ready to rut

Max is our leader without doubt. Here's a picture of him taken yesterday in full rut mode...darkened face, snout and neck, thick and full neck, large Adam's apple, coarser hair on the neck and shoulder flanks. He reeks of urine, too. Every other deer in our herd moves out of his way even if he only twitches.

But so far, the bucks are behaving well. There are occasional experimental attempts to lock antlers, but generally they are in an almost trance-like state. They often stretch their heads back and open their mouths as if suffering from swollen glands or sore throats. They make low, moaning sounds, nothing loud yet.

Appetites have shrunk radically. Even George, who has never failed to eat corn to the very last kernel, took his time to come in for food yesterday and then walked away from it to lie down and rest. Only the two little ones (Moki and Spike) will eat apples and corn continously. No one is interested in carrots anymore.

Anniversary Wish

October 1, 2006 marks the first anniversary of the Odessa Fallow Deer Reserve. Happy Anniversary.

Last October 1st, Don Murphy was driving home from work and saw hunters shooting bucks in the farmer's field where normally he would have seen the deer grazing in peace. Over 100 other deer were racing back and forth in terror as the bullets flew. He saw bodies lying in the field and men loading fallen deer into a frontend loader.

Horrified, he went home and talked to Wendy, his wife. Together they decided to approach the farmer. They purchased the deer and made an agreement that included use of the farmer's land for two years (until October 2007). In this way perhaps a better way of dealing with too many deer in too small a space could be found and over 100 lives were saved. Long story short, in April 2006, the entire herd was tested for disease, treated for worms and 89 does and fawns were able to be transferred by transport truck to Parc Omega in Montebello, Quebec.

Left on the reserve are 13 bucks who were not wanted by Parc Omega. We are searching for at least 10 or 15 acres of land with trees and water to lease for approximately 10 years so that these 13 bucks can live out their lives as safely and peacefully as possible. They can't be released into the wild because they are not native to Canada and must be fed hay throughout the winter.

Our dedicated group of volunteers could help provide and build the 7 to 8 foot fencing required as our bucks will jump when frightened. We receive many donations of hay, apples and carrots as well as veterinary advice and that could transfer to a new location. If you have land that is currently unused and would like to become involved in our reserve, please call one of the numbers above.

This October 1 is a good time to thank all those who have helped in the past year in so many ways.

The above photo was taken in late August 2006 by Jane McDonald ... "The bums' rush".

Bash(ful)

Bash(ful) earned his name due to his behaviour early on. He looks like Buddy but we could always tell which was which because Bash would be miles away from us, skirting the edges of the herd. He rarely even looked in our direction.

This picture taken yesterday shows him in his prime. If you look closely, you'll see that his "maleness" has distended, his neck is thick and dark, his Adam's apple is huge. We've also noticed the slight curl up at the tip of his tail. He is a handsome deer fully prepared for the rut. We haven't got the heart to tell him ...

Shy Ty

Ty is one of our shyest deer, so he makes it difficult to get a good picture. He hangs out on the fringes of the herd at feeding time and gets shoved by both smaller and larger bucks so we guess his place in the hierarchy is quite low.

Although mid-size, he has more compact body than George or EG. His is much like Koko's. His coat has more of a reddish tone than the other deer. His antlers and his coat are almost the same colour. The horizontal white line marking that runs from his hips is broken just before it reaches his shoulders.

Buddy's Bio

Buddy got his name because back in May he was constantly at George's side and that's how we could identify him. He had then and still has more white than George on his legs and lower body.

Sometime in June as each deer began to grow in size, Buddy became more shy of people and less likely to hang out with us, or with George who took up with EG.

We think he is one of the most handsome looking deer. His antlers are symmetrical and at the inside corner of his expressive eyes, he has white teardrops.

As antlers have hardened and the herd has spread itself out on the reserve, Buddy is getting to know us again and coming in close for photos.

Top photo: Buddy behind George in May 2006.

Bottom photo: Buddy enjoying an apple, September 2006.

Rut 101

As each day passes since velvet has shed and antlers have hardened, the bucks become more skittish and twitchy. They are challenging one another and constantly on alert -- even while feeding.There is considerably more pushing and shoving and all bucks seem to snort frequently.

George has some minor scratch marks along his right side. Murph has an ever-darkening snout. We noticed that the colour along the back of their necks is becoming darker, too and the necks are becoming thicker.

The largest bucks are not even coming to see us for food. We occasionally walk down to the end of the field to count them and leave some goodies, but they really don't want much to do with us.

That leaves 8 or 9 bucks for apples, carrots and corn and our "socialization" efforts. They come in from different areas of the farm. Today they came from three places. And if, while feeding, one gets spooked, then all will run off, leaving food that only a few weeks ago they would eat to the very last kernel and then casually stroll across the creek to lay down for a nap.

We think this change in behaviour marks the beginning of the rut or mating season, or some prelude to it. Apparently this starts to happen in October, but ...

Because some of the deer movements can be jerky, sudden and not very calm, it's probably not the best time for too many visitors, especially children. We now understand that the deer were the most placid and pleasant during the velvet stage from May to mid-August. What next?