Delaware Valley Wildlife: Four young bucks

in Delaware Valley Lifelast year

Sixteen days ago, I wrote,

I see the deer so often that I don't photograph them much any more... it's starting to feel cliché.

Now, just two weeks later, I'm contradicting myself with pictures of four white-tailed deer that I saw over the weekend. The reason for this is that all four of the deer are bucks. What I wrote before was true. I do see deer a lot. But, it's actually pretty unusual for me to see bucks, and even more unusual to see more than one buck at a time. This weekend is the first time in 20+ years of living in the area that I can recall seeing 4 bucks at once.

Add to that the fact that the male deer are so much more skittish than the female deer, and I feel very lucky that I was able to capture these photos. Normally, when a buck sees any movement from me, he bolts immediately. I'm not sure why these guys were willing to hang around and be photographed... safety in numbers, I guess.

You may note the velvet covering on the antlers. I have never been a hunter, so I didn't know this until now, but this is a normal part of the annual growth process for deer antlers. The antler growth will be mostly completed by mid-August, at which time the antlers will harden in time for the fall breeding season, which can run from September through January.

Without further delay, here are the wildlife photos that were captured near West Chester, PA on June 25, 2023.


DSCN5797.JPG


DSCN5799~2.JPG


DSCN5798.JPG


DSCN5789.JPG


DSCN5780.JPG


DSCN5782.JPG


DSCN5783.JPG


DSCN5786.JPG


DSCN5790.JPG


DSCN5793.JPG


DSCN5794.JPG


DSCN5796.JPG


Thanks for your attention!


image.png

Pixabay license, source

Reminder


Visit the /promoted page and #burnsteem25 to support the inflation-fighters who are helping to enable decentralized regulation of Steem token supply growth.)

Sort:  

Unfortunately, deer are not so common in our country. It's the first time I've seen such fluffy horns, thanks for explaining where it comes from. the photos are wonderful.

I look at the photos, I see how the ears look like they seem to be very attentive to any movement, and some even seem to want to run away according to the photos, then I read that they are all male and very scared, possibly when you shoot You take the photos with subtlety, since the others you manage to shoot look very nice to me, you can see many characteristics of these animals, well defined, maybe they were scared when they looked at you, but they don't feel like a threat, the animals are quite intuitive

 last year (edited)

Right! I definitely had their undivided attention. I think they were on a "hair trigger", and if I had taken one more step closer, they all would have bolted. It's funny because when the does see me walking the dog, they frequently move even closer to us, even with the dog barking and lunging towards them (on a leash).

They are all wonderful!

I haven't seen a live deer in my entire life before...I only watch it in wildlife documentaries....one attribute I appreciate about them is their ability to jump.

Nice views, I don't see this type of animal very much. And always as photos.

Hi @remlaps,
Please would you mind checking your Discord inbox, I just dropped a message for you...thank you.