Living on the Edge of the Sagebrush Ocean
Lots of fawns showing up on the trail cameras this summer. It looks like the first week of June is when most of them are born. I am seeing at least one set of twins which is not unusual for Mule Deer. I caught some interaction between bucks and fawns which is interesting. More bucks are hanging out with does through the summer than I have seen in the past. They usually break away into bachelor groups until the fall. Animal behavior is always interesting.
While going through the trail cam photos I noticed what I am going to say was a very close call. A coyote is stalking a mule deer fawn and the mom confronts him. I think this ended happily for the fawn. Lets look at the photos.
At 6:43 AM the fawn is passing through this grassy area. Mom must have passed through earlier. The camera never picked her up.
Same time and date the fawn is looking out front having moved a few steps forward.
Twelve minutes later a coyote is seen. He/she is sniffing the grass where the fawn paused and I think urinated.
Coyote is sniffing around and looking for the fawn I would guess.
Now you see the doe come back and apparently confront the coyote while the fawn I hope stayed hidden. I didn’t get anymore photos of this incident. I hope it turned out okay for the fawn. Coyotes do kill and eat fawns and yes, it is part of nature, but I have to root for the baby here. I think Mom saved the day.
While the moms are busy nurturing and protecting their fawns the bucks are enjoying the idle life. This is an easy time of the year for them. The forage is good, it was a wet winter. It is quiet as people don’t venture out on the trails in the heat. In short, its summer and the living is easy. They are growing their horns and storing up energy for the battles and mating that will take place in autumn.
This looks like a small buck with what may be first year antler growth. He may end up with two spikes or may develop a split.
This one already has some height, and you can see the start of the split. Probably will be a tall two point. This buck is most likely a two year old.
This is a nice symmetrical set of horns growing. He won’t be huge, probably still just a two pointer with thick beams. He will have some size and I think he will be handsome come fall.
So far these last two photos of the same buck show the largest or highest horns. There are still 3 and a half months of growth time left. It will be interesting see how these guys develop as the time goes by.
Still no Mountain Lions showing up on the cameras. Last photos of them were taken in February. I am still seeing the Bobcat. No kittens with it but hoping to. Next post, photos of him or her.
I have lots of photos of Mule Deer bucks from July through December of 2022. I feel like I got to know them well through the photos taken of them on my Trail cameras. It was interesting to watch them the last 6 months. They changed their behavior through the observation time. In the summer they were solitary or hung out with one other buck. I saw some sparring through summer and early fall and then the very serious business of competing for does in November and December. My favorite buck of the year is a classic 4 point western count. He has a large, very symmetrical rack and is in my opinion the handsomest of all the bucks in that area this year. He posed nicely for several photos and I enjoyed going through all his photos to choose a few I’ll show here.
I was fortunate to run into this handsome herd of Mule Deer bucks just as they were leaving a field in the early morning. It isn’t often you see this many horned ones together and it was a joy to watch and photography them for about an hour before I had to move on.
These fellows got over their alarm at my presence fairly quickly and it was interesting to watch their interactions at my leisure.
Western count, this is a nice four point and three point hanging out.
This guy was definitely the biggest buck and the most wary. He dived into the tall brush and hid for a good little while until he decided I wasn’t a threat. He ran out an joined the rest of the herd and allowed me to get a few good shots. He has some pretty gnarly eye guards. Classic four point Mule Deer Buck.
These bucks did a little bit of play fighting while I watched. I was hoping they would knock their horns off it being March and time for them to be dropping their antlers. No such luck.
Northern Desert Photography 