Stepping Lively

This had to be shared. I opened up the living room blinds early this morning and saw the fawns chasing each other in the empty lot next to me. They were having so much fun this warm summer morning.

Older does sometimes play like this, but it's very rare. Usually, after a year or so they seem to lose their ability to play when the serious business of eating and surviving takes precedence. But every once in awhile, even the older does let loose. This happened once at the end of a hot dry summer and the first rains made everything fresh. Even I felt like dancing. The empty lot became a leaping mass of playing adult and yearling deer - chasing and kicking up their heels. It was a treat to see.

I've never mentioned the bucks. Until they are of a certain age (a year or so), they tend to stick with the female family group. Once they starting developing their first real antlers, they seem to go off on their own or join bachelor groups - until the rutting season in November and December. That's the only time they see the does.