Black-Tail Deer June 19, 2011

This morning, I headed out of my front door and rounded the fence to find two young bucks – literally – staring straight at me. One, skittish, bolted back across Route One; I held my breath as he cleared the road, his velvet antlers translucent to rising sunlight like a soft X-ray. The other stayed, grazing on the newly cut hay. He visited me throughout the day; while I gardened and read, he munched on clover and pooped prodigiously, taking me in with his brown eyes and sniffing with his wet nose of glistening coal.