Sanctuary

Does the deer to the left look surprised?

"Oh, no, you can see me!"

The picture posted above is from the video that I took yesterday around lunchtime, which appears in this  blog post:

http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-many-deer-do-you-count.html

Although I was never able to see more than about four deer at a time, it was mainly due to my limited vantage point, standing in the doorway.

In the evening, when the light was fading, I saw the troop again. It is a whole herd of deer that are grazing on my land, and who choose my front yard in particular as a place to congregate.

Can you see Nile the cat watching the deer?

The deer were trying to be quiet, so that I would not notice them. I was trying to be quiet so the deer would not notice me. But Nile the cat was completely uninhibited. He was meowing loudly, startling us all.

Why are there so many deer in my front yard all of a sudden? "Did you put a salt lick out for them?" a friend asked. No, I have done nothing to make this spot attractive.

I am beginning to suspect that it's not what I've done, but what I haven't done. I haven't tried to shoot them. It's deer season now, and they somehow have figured out that my property is a safe zone. So while there is nothing here to attract them, they see it as a temporary sanctuary.

Yes, sanctuary. Not like a chimpanzee sanctuary, to which the chimpanzees are forced to go and from which they are never allowed to depart. But a real sanctuary, to which the deer go of their own free will when they choose to, and depart when they feel safe going elsewhere.

The difference between a sanctuary and a concentration camp is that you are free to come and free to go.