One Dear and Another Not-So-Dear Encounter with Deer: Patch Editor's Notebook

Videos like the one that prompted this story and, especially, this one from a couple of years back, started my day off with a huge laugh – never a bad thing – so I thought I’d share the trip down memory lane that watching them provoked.

Two deer stories:

First the tale of two drunks, pulled from a police log years ago. Seems this couple driving home in the wee hours hit a deer with their compact car.

So naturally, as any softhearted drunks would do, they loaded the still-alive but unconscious deer into their back seat and headed to the to a vet clinic a few miles away with the idea of getting the creature fixed up.

Unfortunately for them but fortunately for the sake of a good story, the deer sprang to life somewhere along the way and attempted to liberate itself, ultimately totaling the little toy-like car from inside and, if memory serves me correctly, kicking the driver in the head.

The deputy who investigated it said the deer and the people were lucky to get out of it alive, although the driver was ticketed for drunken driving.

The dearer deer story is a confession of my own jackassery – or so it was labeled later by folks who didn’t see the point of what I had done.

I was tooling along a winding gravel roads when a doe dashed in front of my car. I was driving slowly, taking in the breathtaking tapestries of greens that are foothills to the Mississippi River in the spring, so there was no danger my car would strike her.

Related:

• Ah, Watch Doe Charm Mom-and-Son Hunting Duo
• Death Threats Aimed at Boy, 11, Who Bagged Rare Albino Deer

She was simply part of the picture – until one hind leg became entangled in the barbed wire of a fence, ending a graceful leap that until that moment, seemed as masterfully choreographed as any prima ballerina’s.

It never occurred to me that I shouldn’t help. Or even that I should. I just did.

And it wasn’t easy. Of course, I do not have wire cutters, and even if I had, I’m not sure the farmer would have appreciated it if I’d wrecked his fence to save a deer, a vegetation eating creature that is not particularly loved in agricultural communities.

As I approached the deer, she became more agitated and began to wriggle. It wasn’t even on my radar that I might suffer the same fate as the hapless drunks who decided to cart the injured deer to the vet.

I lowered my voice to a soft monotone, coddled her as I would a frightened child, and to my utter amazement and, truly, complete joy, she stood perfectly still.

Tell Us:

• When was the last time you were inspired by nature?

I am not a physically strong person. The prickly wires were stretched taut, and pulling them tighter to create a small opening to free her leg without injuring myself was no easy feat. It took several minutes, during which she stood statue-still and never flinched.

Eventually I was successful and she pulled her leg free.

In the silence of that vibrantly green spring day, she turned and looked penetratingly at me. Our eyes locked for a full five seconds and then she turned and dashed off, graceful as before.

“You’re welcome,” I said and walked away, feeling closer to and more a part of nature than ever before.

(Editor’s note: This column is adapted from one by the author that previously appeared on Patch.com)

______________

Have a news tip? Email beth.dalbey@patch.com. Our platform has changed, so click here to learn how to post news, events and announcements; comment using Disqus; or add photos to the Instagram feed along the top of the home page.

Photo via Creative Commons