What's There?

There's lots of foliage here in Iowa, and it makes for good hiding for wild creatures.  You never really know what's out there in it.  You drive by a little stand of trees or walk in a city park, and for the most part you are completely unaware of what is hiding just a few feet from you.

Take a look here.  What do you see?

Bedded down in those cool green weeds is one of the larger North American mammals - a whitetail buck.  See him?  You can just make out parts of his antlers in the lower left-hand portion of the picture.

When I took the picture above, I couldn't see him, but I knew he was there.  He had just startled a little, when a nearby man clapped his hands together to call for his dog.  The noise cause the deer to raise his antlered head a little, and turn toward the sound.  I tried to get him in my viewfinder, but he had already sunk back into the weeds.

I stepped closer, trying to see where he was.  He raised his head up and looked around, directly at me.  Suddenly I was thinking of all those heedless tourists in Yellowstone Park who approach wild elk, bison and bears, and get trampled, gored and mauled.

As I wondered how just how many feet actually separated us, he rose and stared straight at me.

Deer have been known to attack humans, although it is rare.   You should not mess with them during mating season, or in the spring when they have their fawns, or with a sick or injured animal, or anytime, really.

To tell the truth, I was surprised that this one had not simply turned tail and run away, which is what they usually do.  That made me a little nervous.  I thought about the heat wave we'd been having, and how sever heat can cause wild animal great distress, making them even more unpredictable than usual. 

I did not approach any closer, or do anything startling.  After checking me out for a minute, he casually leapt over the log behind him, and disappeared.

There wasn't much place for him to go.  As I found out when I checked the location on Google Earth later, he had been hiding  in a narrow island of trees running between two rows of houses, in the midst of urban sprawl.  Makes you wonder what else is out there, so close by and yet unseen.