The Travels of Tug 44


White-Tailed Deer




White-Tailed Deer are very common in the North Country. The Deer in Fort Edward tend to be in very good condition as we have all the hay fields available to them. These two are females.   high-res



This White-Tailed Deer is a male as you can tell from the two knobs on his forehead ... they are the beginnings of the horns beginning to sprout in this photo taken at the end of March. They call that a "button buck"   high-res



A herd of White-Tailed Deer in the Fort Edward Grasslands taken in February. It looked like an all-female herd, though the distance was several hundred yards so I may have missed some buttons. Deer do not have antlers in the dead of winter.   high-res



Female White-Tailed Deer herds have their own dominance order. Fights are used to establish dominance and this female is "mounting" the other to show she is the boss. This has nothing to do with mating. This photo was taken in December, after mating season was over and the Bucks have all shed their antlers.   high-res



Look, it's Bambi! This one is only a few weeks old. Baby White-Tailed Deer have spots for camouflage for the first 3-4 months, which helps them hide in the grass and brush. Mom leaves them behind as she goes to forage for herself, and the Fawns are supposed to stay where she puts them. Photo taken in early June.   high-res



Bambi was totally fearless, wandering within 10 feet of me. Her Momma had left her hidden in the brush nearby but she got thirsty.   high-res



In this photo taken at the end of October, a female (Doe) White-Tailed Deer suckles her Fawn, who is more than 4 months old and has lost her spots.   high-res



Lunch is over and Momma White-Tailed Deer leads her Fawn across the hay field and into the woods. At this age, the Fawn follows her Mom at all times.   high-res



This is a male White-Tailed Deer and he's got small antlers. He is a year or two old and his antlers have only a single point each, he's called a "Spike Horn". As he gets older, each successive year he will have a larger rack with more points.   high-res



This morning I was up early and was sitting on my living-room couch at 7:00am when I saw this beautiful White-Tailed Deer eating up all my Daisy flowers.   high-res



After a mad dash to find my pants and get my camera, I was able to photo her, and she was completely unafraid of me. It was a dark drizzly morning, but the photos came out very well. She was a particularly lovely Deer. Turns out she has been living inside Fort Edward Village for an entire month now, in people's back yards! And she has been making daily visits to the vegetable plots in our Community Gardens. Lucky for her, hunting season is still a few months away.   high-res



September 2018 - This is called a "Button Buck" ... this is his first year, he may be about 7-8 months old and he has little bumps (buttons) on his forehead. Next year he may become a "Spike Horn Buck". He still has his summer coat, soon it will shed and be replaced with a gray winter coat.   high-res

White-Tailed Deer, beautiful critters.




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