10/03/2009

Training Wheels for the Cycle of Life

It is dawn and the first day of bow season.  Down by the pond next door a light is on outside the tiny trailer.  I know what that means.  My city girl roots are showing.

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Last night I saw Mama and her two remaining babies down by the creek, munching in the neighbor’s clover patch and I wanted to scream, “Get out of there! If you do that tomorrow, he’ll kill you!”

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Okay, I don’t know all the rules but I’m fairly certain he won’t kill the babies- Maybe not even the mama.  But I’ve watched over them since Spring.  I mourned when the trail camera caught the bobcat dragging the third baby away.  And don’t tell me it’s the cycle of life.  I work in a nursing home, remember?  So I’m down with the whole cycle of life business.

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There are just some times when I wish I had a bit of control over the whole thing.  Instead, I am relegated to standing out on my back porch, shooting the moon.

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3 comments:

Beth said...

First of all, those pictures are really wonderful, Nancy. I love the moon shots and am amazed at the quality of the Stealth Cam photo of mama and baby deer.

I can understand how you feel. At least, I can say that all the hunters I know do put the venison to good use, and for some it is their main source of winter protein.

Beth said...

And I wanted to say also that I've never, ever known any hunters to kill a baby deer.

Beth said...

Hi, Nancy. I made another comment two days ago before the one above (so that the one above seems weird without context), but it appears to have disappeared into the blogosphere so I thought I'd try to remember what I wrote. It was to say that, if it's any comfort, all the hunters I've known do put the deer meat to good use and the venison plays an important part in their wintertime food supply. I do understand how you feel, though.