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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Daisy




This is a photo of Junior but the topic of this posting is for Daisy, the Mother of Junior. I can't find a ready photo of Daisy so will use her son instead. We have lived here full time for 13+ years and during that time we have taken great enjoyment in watching and observing the behavior of the various wild animals and birds. Junior here is second from the top of the list of our favorites. At the top is an amazing deer we call Daisy. We haven't seen Daisy yet this year and hope that she will show up but our hopes are slowly fading.
Junior is now 12 years old and has been a faithful guy for every one of those years. Our first summer here I was out cleaning up branches beside our home and a doe and two fawns in spots showed up and came up to where I was working. I started to talk to the doe and the two fawns were playing around within a few yards from me. This doe followed me around as long as I would talk to her. This happened several times over that first summer. I talked to her about current events, how much God loved her, what a beautiful lady she was, her handsome fawns and so forth for most of a morning and throughout the summer and fall.
As I later learned those two fawns grew up to be two beautiful buck's. We affectionately named one of the bucks Junior and the other twin Eddie. We didn't know until a couple years later they were the same two fawns that were with Daisy that earlier time. I went outside one day and this 6 point buck walked right up to me and stood there inches away. He came around on a regular basis and when we saw one we always saw the other twin. They traveled together for several years and then Eddie was no longer a companion. Junior has come around and hangs round during hunting season each year and he is now about 12 years old. He has come around with a herd and sometimes all by himself. He has no fear of me but if anyone else shows up he just vanishes. There one minute and gone the next. He will follow me around much like his mother first did and I have picked ice balls off his forehead and rubbed his nose. He will lick my hand and has the most gentle touch. There could be no doubt that he was one of those fawns that came with Daisy initially.
Now that the cast of players has been established I will tell just how smart deer are and how loyal. Daisy who took a chance on just walking up to a human has amazed and astounded me over the years. She has to be close to 15 years old now and she is one tough and loving girl if she is still alive. In the course of the years we have seen her on several occasions adopt either an abandoned or injured fawn and raise it as her own. She would protect it, make sure it got enough to eat, teach it what it needed to know to survive and care for it. All right here in our back yard. One such fawn grew to adulthood and traveled with Daisy for many years. One year Daisy showed up with raw claw marks from her neck to her haunch. She had clearly encountered a mountain lion and won. Another time we saw her go after a coyote that was after one of her fawns. If that coyote lived it would be remarkable as she launched herself into the air and came down on it with all four hooves. Daisy was the epitome of what I would think a deer should be.
All these years I would talk to her and from her look I believe she understood much of what was said. Deer live in the wild to be approximately 15 years old and that is about her age presently. When other deer would push another young deer away due to injury or abandonment Daisy would take that deer under her care. I have watched her many times fend off other deer to keep them from injuring anything under her care. Daisy is an amazing deer and we are hopeful that she will still show up one day soon. If she doesn't because of old age or death I can say that this girl has taught me more about deer behavior and characteristics than any other wild animal. Hopefully she will show up because she is such a joy to have around. She would bed down back from the house and watch as I would work outside. It was like having my own personal radar system.
Daisy not only adopted injured and abandon fawns but she adopted me as well. I have no doubt that if I were in danger Daisy would have been there in my defense. She has been a true and loyal friend these many years and if she is no longer with us I will miss her presence greatly. I am still holding out hope she will show up this year with that notch in her left ear, and those scars on her side. I would really like to have one more talk with her.........to tell her what a remarkable gal she is and how much I have valued her presence in my life over the years.







1 comment:

Ron and Thelma said...

That is a great story. Hope she shows up