BIG CRITTER VISITORS—

Two adult and two young Whitetail Deer paid us a visit Sunday. They came up the face of the dam and spent about 20 minutes frolicking on the driveway, stopping for an occasional drink in the pond.

They maintained a high level of alertness being this close to my home; occasionally spooking one another into a hasty but temporary retreat. It was the adults doing the retreating. The youngsters tended to keep up their playful butting and doing those delightful jumps where all four gangly legs leave the ground.

Ohio’s Whitetail Deer population is projected at 675,000* this fall even after last year’s record hunting harvest of 237,316. Knox County, just a few miles south of here, placed fifth among the state’s 88 counties in number of deer taken.

A trophy deer was taken last year in Adams County. The 34 point, non-typical buck was scored as the fourth largest of its type harvested in the world.

While I can accept the necessity of the annual harvest from a driving safety point of view I would have to be extraordinarily hungry to ever kill one of these marvelous animals.

In fact, I am truly thankful for how often I am treated to one of nature’s displays such as this--simply by looking out the window.

*Wild Ohio Magazine, Fall 2007