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?

Velvet vanishing

Happy to report that almost all the deer have shed their velvet and are starting to calm down now that they don't have long strands covering their eyes or face.

George was one of the last to lose his velvet layer, and we must have been observing him very shortly after the process began because the blood was still visible, as you can see from this picture.

Mike is starting to lose it

Mike is one of the four largest deer and the first to begin shedding the velvet from his antlers in such a big way. We thought the velvet might just rub off in small pieces but you can see the long strands to the right of his face and on his forehead.

Yesterday he was a bit annoyed with the dangling old velvet and lowering his head trying to shake off the unwanted strands . The other deer thought he was challenging them whenever he lowered his antlers, so they were on edge, too trying hard to keep out of his way.

In the herd hierarchy, it appears that Mike is second to Max in command in most situations. He can be aggressive and can intimidate other deer, even when he isn't shedding his velvet.

We named him Mike because we like deer names that begin with the letter M and because it's Allan's middle name.

Humane Education

Here's a great example of mutual trust and respect. We can't think of any two better ambassadors for human and deer beings.

Thanks to a generous donation from her grandmother, Marg, this young person has become the official sponsor of the fallow deer (Curious) George, pictured with her above.