LA BOTA RANCH WHITE-TAILED DEER UPDATE (08-06-13): Arrived at the West Meadow in the western sector of La Bota Ranch late (6:05 p.m.). Very hot and breezy with no clouds. I was feeling a little ill (dizzy) due to illness. WT buck "Abel" trotted right over to me when I arrived. I saw a fawn following a doe at the SE edge of the pasture. WT doe "Sheila" walked up to greet me. Soon afterwards one of my favorite does, "Libby" arrived with one of her fawns! The little creature was beautiful and approached to within 4 yards of me. I took several handheld photos of this amazing baby. I watched as a WT doe appeared over the west levee, hobbling on an injured right front leg. The limp was significant. The injured doe stopped to hydrate at a waterhole. I poured some corn on the ground and was surprised when aggressive buck "Thor" approached to within 4-5 yards of me! I watched as the usual fights developed, but this time WT doe "Zorya" challenged "Thor" twice and was duly beaten severely during the hind-legged fighting. She also fought with another buck as well. "Thor" really let her have it, and she ran away sadly defeated and licking her wounds. As I sat on the ground, WT buck "Freddie" approached and began licking my left hand. WT buck "Abel" was being aggressive and his usual bully self and he nearly toppled my $7,000 Zuiko 300mm f2.8 telephoto lens and Bogen 3046 Professional tripod. After only a few minutes visit, "Libby" departed over the west levee with her fawn. She came back a short while later, begging to be fed by hand from a small pail. "Abel" tried to interfere, but I "shooed" him away. "Freddie" took over for a short while, and he let me touch the velvet on his antlers! However, "Abel" hackled his fur and chased him away. Unbelievably, WT doe "Asteria" fed from the pail for a very short while while I held it (first time), but "Abel" and "Zorya" started fighting right next to me and scared her away - I was nearly trampled by the fighting duo. Also, "Little Buck" touched the fingertips on my left hand with his nose; a first for him. While feeding "Libby" a short while later, I was able to touch various parts of her body (head, neck, back, legs, hooves), including her udder (twice; it was not full), but she proved to be sensitive to being touched there. There were considerably more bucks than does in the pasture today. Large WT buck "Curly" was not present, and sadly, WT doe "Annie," my favorite, was a no-show again today (last seen on July 26th). Late in the afternoon I catered to partially blind WT buck "Charlie," ensuring he got some feed and some corn. I performed the first mass feeding at the troughs at 7:20 p.m. Surprisingly, several skirmishes broke out around the 4 troughs. Later, I again fed "Libby" some corn by hand from the small pail. She is really trusting of me to a surprising degree. "Freddie" jealously edged his way in and I was able to pat him on the top of his head (unusual), jaw, etc. As he again began licking my left hand, I deliberately stuck some of my fingers into his mouth to see if he reacted. He did not seem to mind at all. The inside of his mouth is very wet and hot. When I stuck my thumb into his mouth it caused him to yawn! At 8:03 p.m. I saw WT buck "Max" flehmening while in the company of a doe. I had a short early evening photo session with the tripod-mounted telephoto lens. At dusk I had to lay down for a while because I had a very bad headache. At 8:50 p.m. when I walked out to the troughs to check the status of the feed, hoards of mosquitoes were literally screaming in the air, stirred from the cool grass. I departed the West Meadow and the Herd at 9:02 p.m.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 19:23:01 +0000