Dale Matson
Some of the most interesting time at our cabin that has no
phone or television is furnished by reviewing photographs taken by our game
cameras of the animals that move around our property day and night. The game
cameras also have revealed the life cycles of our local deer population over
the last four years. We had one photograph with five deer in the front yard
area. http://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2014/01/game-camera-ii-bonanza.html
I often go up to the cabin to write and sometimes look out
the window to see deer looking back in at me. There is a pastoral peacefulness
in this wilderness setting that is actually teeming with wildlife. In a
longitudinal sense, there is a drama unfolding that is more evident because of
the game cameras.We had a doe that became familiar to us and seemed to have
two fawns every spring. Over the past four years, there has been a general
increase in the deer population grazing around and below our cabin.
Last fall,
our game camera captured a mountain lion in the front yard of our cabin. This
was actual evidence beyond the occasional footprints in the snow that I had
seen in years past. We had mixed emotions since we often work on the property
by ourselves and have grandchildren who visit us there also. At the same time
however, we loved the fact that such a magnificent animal would pass by from
time to time. We began to see less deer on the game camera. This was an ominous
sign.
We saw the doe in early June and she still looked robust.
Here is a photograph taken on June 7th.
Click On Photographs For A Larger View
The Young Buck Is One Of Her Offspring
In early September I noticed a drastic change in her
appearance. She was with one of her yearlings and there was such a contrast
between the two. The ribs on the mother were pronounced and her hindquarters
looked withered. I could not tell if this was due to age or disease but she
looked frail.
I suppose it was only a matter of time before nature took
its course and she met her fate with the mountain lion. I checked the game
camera memory card last Saturday and was amazed to see the doe being dragged
into the woods by the neck by the mountain lion. Once again, I have mixed
emotions because of the reality of the loss of this doe. The lion probably did
her a favor in ending a life in obvious and inevitable decline.
September 28th
Yet this is a
part of the ongoing cycles in nature. On the surface nature is beautiful and
pastoral yet underneath and mostly out of sight, there is an unforgiving aspect
where an animal weakened by age or disease is quickly and savagely dispatched
in a few moments. The camera caught the mountain lion again the evening of the following day.
Sometimes the game cameras tell a story that we don't want
to see.
Where the deer and your grandchildren play. Hmmmm!
ReplyDeleteI find myself experiencing a lingering sadness at the death of the doe. I guess the connections were deeper than I had thought.
ReplyDelete