I don’t post photos of mule deer to my blog very often but this one was so curious about me I felt I should return the favor.
Two days ago, in a remote area of Box Elder County, I heard a bird calling from very close along the side of the road. The call was completely unfamiliar to me so I stopped and waited for the bird to appear from out of the sagebrush. It continued to call and I continued to wait for nearly 15 minutes but the bird never showed itself.
And then I realized I was being watched.
While I was distracted this mule deer, a doe I believe, had approached so close I could barely fit her in frame. Deer in this remote area are usually pretty spooky but this one was the exact opposite. She continued to get closer to me, zig zagging amongst the sagebrush until I could hear her breathing.
The breathing I heard turned out to be deliberate sniffing in my direction, a new experience for me with mule deer. Here she had raised her nose as she was sniffing me out.
And then she settled in to just stare at me, which I thought made for an interesting portrait. Maybe it’s because with my big ears I have a certain affinity for mule deer.
Ron
I love these photos Ron. Mulies are neat animals. Thanks for sharing.
Lovely moment of communion!
All the shots are adorable. I love deer! Great model.
Thanks, Linda.
What a marvelous experience! She obviously liked what she sniffed! Ron the Stag! 😉😂
Wonderful shots of her too. They may have to go in your “magpie hat” rotation — especially for the story! 💜
“Ron the Stag”
Marty, some of my students used to (affectionately) call me “Dud the Stud”. I like that better… 🙂
She is beautiful and you captured wonderful photos of her. What a nice experience. Merlin records the bird song you are hearing and will identify the bird from the call. It isn’t a bird call to call the bird in, nothing is played back. Do you consider it cheating to record the song for id purpose? Tana got me using it and I loved it for identifying new birds I was hearing in Idaho and could not identify. It was correct all but one time. We kept hearing birds calling in the tall grass fields and Merlin identified my recorded call as Wilson’s snipe. Sure enough when one finally flew close to us it was a snipe. I have heard snipe call but they were using two calls I have never heard before.
“Do you consider it cheating to record the song for id purpose?”
No, not at all April. I just haven’t got around to installing it on my phone. Sounds like I should.
Yet again another species who looks much better than we do when doing something we share. I don’t think I have ever seen a curious human that looked so totally endearing. In all three photos.
Yup, endearing describes her well, EC. Thanks.
Love your capture of this encounter! Have a lot of mule deer here in AZ and just love them 😄. Happy Father’s Day – you are the father of an angel! Pretty special. ❤️
Pretty special indeed. Thanks, Kathleen.
I don’t know if there is such a thing as foreground bokeh, but the sagebrush is a nice feature.
Here I go anthropomorphizing again but if a deer can have an attitude this is it. Good thing you were in your truck or it might have been oído a oído (ear to ear).
“Good thing you were in your truck or it might have been oído a oído (ear to ear).”
Or big ears to big ears… 🙂
Not that you need another opinion, but deer react to movement, and I am guessing you were probably quite still, which I have found to bring out the their interest in figuring out what you and your intentions are. My favorite pic is the second one, absolutely beautiful! Thank you!
Janis, see my response to Celeste below for a possible explanation of this deer’s behavior.
Really nice photos of the deer. A day off from the birds. We have Mule Deer everywhere in our National Forest areas here and around our lakes. And I think that is one reason why we have so many Mountain Lions.
Happy Father’s Day to you and to all your followers who are dads.
PS – Have you read about our bear killing here? I do not know the man, but he was from Tucson and here building a house. At least so far they believe it was an unprovoked killing, but still investigating. It is in an area I often go birding and hiking.
Everett, I heard about that poor guy yesterday. Seems to me that an unprovoked attack by a black bear is pretty unusual.
Don’t know much about deer, but to my eye, she appears very young ? I was
also struck with how MOIST her nose seems to be, and even as close
as she came to you, also her neck looks to be stretched to its limit to get the
best possible take on you– just an enchanting creature……..
She could be quite young, Kris. I just don’t know. I know a lot more about birds than I do about deer.
Hello Ron, I have been following your blog for quite a while, but this is the first time I am posting: Have you ever heard a fawn bleat? I didn’t realize they do, until I heard a “strange” (possible bird) call and followed it to a fawn. Just wondering if maybe that would explain both the doe’s interest in you, and the strange bird call? Thank you for all the wonderful photos you post!
Hi Celeste, you may be on to something. I’ve heard pronghorn fawns bleating several times but I don’t recall ever hearing a deer fawn. So I listened to three sound clips of a deer fawn. One of them sounded kind of like what I was hearing that I thought was a bird.
And that would explain the doe’s behavior. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it.
Such a fun post! I love the deer that frequent my home (white tails) and this mule deer is sweet. You had me LOL with that ear comment!!!
Kellie, for me big ears are a fact of life. When I was a kid it used to bother me, but no more.
What a beautiful face she has. Thank you for sharing .
Take Care,
Kaye
Yes, she does. Thanks, Kaye.
You’ll now have 500 readers suggesting that you get the Merlin app for bird songs and calls ID. I delight in being the first since I refuse to have a cell phone.
The deer recognized a kindred spirit, a lover of the great outdoors, Ron.
The last photo is especially beautiful and a bit haunting.
Regarding the Merlin app – maybe someday, maybe tomorrow or maybe never. I’ve just never felt it was a big enough priority to load it on my phone. That may change but it hasn’t yet.
Fun! 🙂 The Mule Deer here tend to be on the spooky side – wonder if she had a fawn near by…..? She looks to be in decent shape even if still shedding out her winter coat on her neck – good news. Notice she has a notch out of her left ear. Doesn’t entirely make up for the mystery bird but “it’ll do”… 😉
Happy Father’s Day!
Good eye, Judy. I hadn’t even noticed that notch.
That last shot is very cool.
Thanks, Connie.
That last shot is adorable!
Thanks, Terri.
One of the pleasures of going out into the field is the unexpected encounter. Only thing better is getting a photo to remember it by.
Nice.
Thanks, Michael. I just wish that phantom bird had showed itself. I don’t hear new bird calls very often so I’m really curious about what species it was.
I’m new to your blog, but from what I can gather, you try to stay pretty low-tech with your methods of locating and shooting. So, I’m not sure if you’d consider this suggestion “cheating”, but – the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell has a Sound ID function that has helped me identify some of our local backyard birds by call. It isn’t foolproof, of course, but can be very helpful.
Also – that mule deer mug shot is incredible! It really emphasizes those big ears. Her curiosity is charming.
Welcome, Melanie. No, I wouldn’t consider using the Merlin app to be cheating, I just never got around to loading it on my phone.
It sounds like it may not have been helpful in this scenario after all, if Celeste is right that the sound was actually a bleating fawn!