field notes, x-xviii-xi

On our evening walk Ondine and I passed within forty yards of a small herd of deer, two bucks and three does. I usually employ the nature photographer's trick of not looking directly at wild critters, but Ondine likes deer. She was trotting along on her tippy-toes and watching them with her shepherdess eyes. The bigger of the two bucks raised his head and started staring back, and then began walking directly and deliberately toward us. We hustled on down the trail. Fall is not the best time of year to crowd a buck, especially not on a day like today, with a blustery front blowing through. On the way back, the herd was walking along the side the trail, so we swung out into the field to give them some space.