DEAR OF THE WILD

Rex Burress

She was there early in the morning, wearing only buckskin with reddish blond hair, and her legs were slim but strong.

My guest looked at me with large plaintive eyes as she moved slowly through my brushy garden, and then she cleared my five foot gate in a ballet leap thrilling to see. Her name was Odocoileus hemionus, and you might know her as the Black-tailed Deer, but the sight was poetry in motion.

The sight of deer in the outdoors is one of the best symbols of the wild and free world of nature. Their alert and sensitive reactions to danger exemplifies the spirit of the wilderness--even though they have adapted to the edge of civilization and can be found around human communities, as in my backyard, often to the point of disgust for landscape keepers. They are browsers and aren't above taking on the toughest shrub, including pampered garden and lawn prizes. The agile ability of a deer to dance to the joy of life is a wonder to behold, and personally, I will gladly give the shy explorers permission to chomp my roses for the privilege to watch their graceful movement.

A mother deer and her fawn can touch the heart-strings of those who find wonder with wild animals and plants, and most assuredly brings forth a squeal of delight from a child...or a parent...who in the love of nature holds communion with her visible forms. 'Bambi is special!'

Aside from that aesthetical appreciation of deer, the story of the two-toed ungulate, classified as a ruminant mammal in the Cervidae family, is quite interesting. I have gleaned some information from Wikipedia, and also my “California Mammals” book by E.W. Jameson and illustrator Hans J. Peeters, who, as a wildlife artist, I know very well. We both have had acceptances in Oakland Museum's “CA Native Species” art shows, once when he showed a mountain lion alongside my snake and anemone.

There are 47 species of deer all over the world, except Australia which had none [but plenty of venomous snakes, Koalas, and kangaroos] until 6 deer species were introduced. Africa has one species of deer [but plenty of antelope]! North America has native black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, moose, elk, and caribou, all of which shed antlers annually. The Bovidae family's antelope, bison, goats, sheep, and cows all have permanent horns on both sexes. It's difficult to keep the antler/horn business straight.

Even though horses are four-legged upright creatures like deer, they are nothing like the Cervids and Bovines. Equuas the horse of the odd-toed animals evolved far back in the fossil record, with small dog-like species in North America, but they became extinct, and not until the Spanish introduced the full-sized steads in 1519 that we know today, did escapees become wild to reoccupy American plains.

Deer were quite plentiful in pioneer days, and even in 1803 Lewis and Clark counted a herd of a hundred along the Missouri River. They diminished rapidly. Venison and buckskin put a price on their heads, and when I was a boy in Missouri in the 1940's, deer had disappeared. The Missouri Dept of Conservation did a great job of restocking, and now they are plentiful...to the point disease decimated their population and there is no hunting season for them this year of 2017. Naturalist Aldo Leopold wrote “Sand County Almanac” in which he defended the wolf as a control factor of deer, helping to defend against overpopulation and disease.

Deer have great agility and can bound away from danger, but their running speed cannot be sustained in comparison to dogs. One time I was hiking in the hills and a dog pack was chasing a deer. The poor thing was weakening, and came staggering toward me, tongue hanging out, and passed within inches as if seeking help. I helped. When the dogs arrived hot on the trail, I scattered them with my walking stick while the lady deer escaped. “S.A. D.” [save a deer] “W. I. N.” [when in need]!

“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother's attractive, but I have photographs of her.”--Ellen DeGeneres

“The more I see of deer, the more I admire them as mountaineers. They make their way into the heart of the roughest solitudes with smooth reserves of strength, through dense belts of brush and forest encumbered with fallen trees and boulder fields, ever showing forth beauty and courage.” --John Muir