The Darnedest Thing

We were on the Gator, headed toward our bridge when Mike said there was a deer down at the river. I hadn’t seen anything move and asked him where he was looking. Mike stopped the Gator to show me the deer standing along the far side of the river in about 4 inches of water.

I snapped a quick pic, hence the photo not being in focus, The deer stood motionless like a statue, its head curved flat against his side.

Mike whistled and it did not flinch or twitch or move at all, it appeared frozen under the outcropping of the bank.

The cows across the river were getting impatient waiting for breakfast, so we decided to feed first then come back to investigate this strange sighting. We drove the Gator over the bridge to start feeding.

While we were across the river, this deer scaled the high bank and I saw it bounce over the fence, into the hay field, cross the open field to another fence that it bounded easily and back down to cross the river before running through the far hay field. It appeared frantic and running from something.

Coyotes may have chased the frightened deer, or we have had bear and cougar sightings around here on occasions. We may never have the answer, but we are keeping a closer eye on our cattle and calves now because of this strange behavior.