I don’t see deer very often at my local marshland park. When I do, it is generally only a flash of their white tails as they bound out of sight. On Friday, however, I spotted a young White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) foraging in the forest at Huntley Meadows Park on the other side of a small stream from where I was located.
I stopped and crouched and the deer slowly moved closer and closer to me. I think that the deer was aware of my presence, but did not seem to view me as a threat. I did not want to move around too much for fear of spooking the deer, so I used the lens that was on my camera at that moment and stayed in place. A 180mm macro lens would not have been my first choice for photographing a deer, but it worked out surprisingly well.
As the deer moved forward, I thought it might try to hop over the stream right where I was at, but eventually the deer moved upstream a bit and made its way to the side of the stream on which I was standing. It lingered for a while in a field before it finally disappeared from sight.
Here are a few shots from my encounter with the young deer. My favorite one might be the first one—I had no idea that deer were so flexible. The third image, which I only cropped a little gives you an idea of how close the deer was to me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I love it when animals come close, as if they can sense that you won’t hurt them. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it’s a very special moment. I’m glad you had your wits about you; I sometimes forget that I’m even carrying a camera.
That’s nice light in the photos, too. Often the deer I see are standing in the shade where their beautiful coat color doesn’t show well. This one doesn’t have the big neck and shoulders that I’ve seen on the mature males, so he’s got some growing to do — in addition to his antlers.
It was an amazing encounter, Sue. I have no idea how to tell how old a deer is, but this one looked like a scrawny young human teenager to me. I remember my sophomore year in high school when I was 5′ 10″ and weighed about 115. 🙂
Weren’t we all those scrawny teenagers 🙂 Yes, I love those special encounters.
always so special and tender….