Camera Critter Sunday No. 8

When I lived in a nice place west of town and set back about 400 feet from the road in Juniper badlands, we had deer constantly hanging around the house. Of course, we fed them Purina Deer Chow and we could go about our normal business and the deer wouldn't bolt...they'd just lay there chewing their cud watching what we did.

After moving out of that place, I thought I would never get close enough to a Mule Deer to get a good shot again. That is until June 19, 2007 and this week's Camera Critter Meme.

It was near 100 degrees that day and myself and a friend went to a nearby state park called Smith Rock. As we walked along the roadway heading towards some Golden Eagle nests, we came across this Mule Deer resting in the shade. She let me get as close as my lens would allow (I had a 70-300mm zoom on the camera) and didn't bat an eye. She stared at me almost the entire time...but I didn't want a staring contest photo. So I asked my friend to cough and when he did, she turned to look towards him and I got this shot.



Both my friend and I spent a few more minutes imaging this cooperative doe and then headed off for the nesting cliffs. When we returned, she was gone. But we did enjoy our short time together with her.

Oh...and the eagle nests were empty when we arrived.