November through December is White-tailed Deer mating season in New England. At dusk in late November we watched a magnificent buck chase a doe across the marshy field back and forth a number of times, before they both disappeared behind a clump of phragmites.
Footage from a brief encounter with the beautiful Good Harbor Beach doe of the dunes.
When a deer comes prancing along the beach!
This graceful, slender beauty leisurely strolled, and then pranced, up to me while I was filming PiPls. I stood very still as she came closer and closer, trying not to move a muscle. With great curiosity, she spent a few minutes looking at me.
The doe came so close, I could have reached out my hand and touched her.
After the once over from her, and a magical moment for me, she then proceeded to walk a few feet away and take a very long pee in a tide pool. I was filming, not photographing at this point, and so it was captured on film. I don’t know why I think this was funny, I guess because while I was thinking, this is so beautiful, perhaps she was wondering if I was a tree and a suitable place to go pee.
Dancing along with the waves at the shoreline, she was heading back to the dunes when a photographer boxed her into a corner, forcing her to cross the creek and go up the rocky incline to Sherman’s Point, and then cross the road. I prayed she would not get hit by a car (FYI, the photographer had a huge telephoto lens!)
Half an hour later I was further down the beach and happily surprised as the doe came in from the road. She had circled all the way around, her tongue was hanging out and she was out of breath. After a few sips of water at the creek, the elegant White-tailed doe of the dunes crossed the marsh and made her way back home.
Beautiful sunrise yesterday morning, too.
Doe Tracks – I have been making a photographic record of all the different types of animal prints that we see at Good Harbor Beach in the morning. Usually, the deer tracks are in the softer sand and not as clearly defined.
White-tailed Deer Doe
I had a lovely encounter early this morning with a pretty doe. Isn’t she beautiful? It was around 5:30 am and still a bit dark under the trees. We checked each other out for at least five minutes, me filming away and she nibbling on greens, before she somewhat nonchalantly headed into the woods. The deer appeared on the young side, with her knobby knees and keen curiosity. Please, any deer experts reading this post, do you think she is an adult deer or a teenager? How can you tell? Thank you!