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At the edge of the forest
I was looking for fall foliage photographs and had just come around the curve when I spotted the little animal. I slowed down and then came to a quiet stop, hoping the deer would be still long enough for me to reach inside my camera bag on the passenger seat and extract my Nikon. If I was lucky, maybe I could get a photograph through the window. About the time I got the camera out of the bag and popped the lens cap off, the deer turned and scampered back among the trees - not far, but far enough so it felt comfortable with the distance between it and my vehicle. Hey, I am nothing if not stealthy, so I figured I could get out of my car with the camera, sneak around the back and maybe use my telephoto lens to still get a decent photograph of the animal between the trees. As I came around the side of my car, I noticed Bigger Deer had come into the picture. Little Deer snuggled up against Bigger Deer as if for reassurance. I stood as still as I possibly could, trying not to make much noise, trying hard to breathe quietly. Bigger Dear turned and looked my way as if to say, "Why are you stopping here? Go away and leave us alone." Thoughts of that "When Animals Attack" (or whatever that video production was called) scene where the deer turns on the hunter, stands on its back legs and uses its front legs to pummel the poor guy came into my head. Y'all have seen that video, right? I could see the obit now, "The Gaffney Ledger editor was killed suddenly yesterday when a deer turned on him and pummeled him to the ground. He was found by the side of a lonely country road with hoof prints all over his body. His camera was recovered and the film developed. On that roll of film was a closeup of a deer on its hind legs in the classic Olympic style boxer pose about to deliver a death blow..." What a way to go. I watched these two creatures for a few minutes. They ambled along, always far enough away to be unphotographable but close enough to still be able to make out among the branches and underbrush. A cool fall breeze cascaded through the trees, causing the collar on one side of my jacket to raise up and flap against the side of my head. It startled me for a moment. I thought for a second that maybe Poppa Dear had sneaked up behind me and was about to clobber me with a sucker punch to the head. "Venison this!" he would shout in deer-ese right before he clobbered me. I chuckled mildly to myself as the scene from the deer attack video again ran through my head and I wondered what the deer community would think if they could see that footage. Would they use it as a sort of self-defense training tape during hunting season? It became clear to me that the deer were not going to come back into lens range and I was not going to be able to get a good photo, so I turned and climbed back into my car, put my camera back into the bag (but left the top open - just in case there were any more deer on down the road) and slowly drove off. On the way back home, I was once again amazed and awed by the beauty of the trees and the collective wondrous range of colors the leaves displayed. God's majesty is all around us. The beauty of His creations He allows us to enjoy. Father God, thank you for the change of seasons - and for an afternoon at the edge of the forest with two deer. I wish for you all God's blessings. (Klonie Jordan is executive editor of The Gaffney Ledger. You can contact him via e-mail at editor@gaffneyledger.com) |
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