Slightly Off the Mark: I Brake For Deer ... or Else

I could have sworn I posted a photo blog about deer before, but I couldn't find it. Maybe I was mixing deer up with turkeys--two animals that used to be unheard of here in northeast Indiana, but now challenge our nerves and our car insurance.

Deer have a habit of just ... showing up. Not necessarily when you're a deer hunter, but they love hanging around roadways. Car-deer accidents are especially common this time of year, when harvesting and hunting disturb them, and mating season disturbs them more.

My theory is that when they realize another winter is coming, they step in front of cars to end it all. I feel that way about winter sometimes, and I have a warm home to retreat to. Deer can't find a place to plug in their space heaters.

I've been told they go onto the pavement in search of the remnants of ice melting salt. Maybe giving each of them a salt shaker would help. I took all these photos, but the shot above is, I believe, the first one of a deer I ever took. He was hanging out along a stream in Chain O' Lakes State Park

This is the closest I've ever gotten to a wild deer, along trail 9 at Pokagon State Park. Staying very still for an unreasonable amount of time got her to within about fifteen feet of me.

Sometimes they blend in really well. Other times they just go running full speed onto the highway, like the one I clipped in January. Remember: Given a choice, they'll always head for the highway instead of the woods. I suspect they get a kick out of the terrified driver expressions.