Where the deer and the antelope play

OK, so there weren't any antelope at the cabin but I liked the title. We arrived prepared for the deer. In anticipation of the deer at the cabin we bought 80 pounds of deer feed with us (corn). When we first arrived the deer would scatter whenever they spotted us. We would turn the lights off in the cabin so they wouldn't see us walking around watching them. Even our shadows scared them. As the week progressed we saw more and more. I guess the word got out that the Mullauer's were handing out free corn. At one point I counted 17 deer in the yard at one time. We usually put out the corn at morning and at dusk. The deer are pretty smart. By the end of the week I think they knew when meal time was.

Of course I wanted to get some great shots of them but most of my photos of them were taken from inside the cabin. I was pretty satisfied with what I had gotten during the week but I had no idea what I was in store for the last morning we were there. Craig and the kids were inside packing up to leave and I decided to put out the last bit of birdseed to see if I could attract any last minute birds. Out I went with my camera around my neck. A few days leading up to this I had noticed that the deer were slowly becoming less afraid of us. They wouldn't totally run away when they would see us but they kept their distance in the woods peaking around trees. I'm sure they were watching to see if we were putting food out for them. Anyway, I put the birdseed out and I suppose the deer thought it was for them. Ever so slowly they started to approach me. I couldn't believe it. There was a group of 6 of them. Several were very young. I stood as still as I could and they just kept coming. I was able to raise my camera and I had the most amazing photo shoot with them. It was like they were giving me a going away gift. They actually came within 20 feet of me. The young one's were braver than the older ones.

These first 4 photos tell a story. This adorable little baby reminded me of a teddy bear. He looked so soft. I wished I could have hugged him. You can see how intensely he was watching me. Very slowly he kept coming......
At this point he was almost to the feeder. I was standing near the front of the feeder and he was trying to get to the back of it so he could keep watching me. Finally he was behind the feeder still not taking his eyes off of me. This is my most favorite photo of all the deer. Just look at the innocence in his eyes. I love this photo!!!
What an experience!! Enjoy the rest of the photos.