Saturday, December 31, 2011

Saturday Snapshot - Oh Deer!

Over Christmas, my husband and I rented a cabin in the nearby Whiteshell Provincial Park. It was very quiet and very relaxing. We had a great time. We were greeted by the "welcoming committee" upon our arrival. Here s/he is Christmas morning at our cabin door:














There were about 15 of these white-tailed deer in the immediate area. Probably hundreds, if not thousands, in the whole park. They are wild animals and are not penned. They are free to come and go as they please. However, the owners of the cabins feed them deer chow, I believe - although not usually by hand.  Because of this, they stay close and have gotten used to having people around all the time. Most of them will eat right from your hand, as seen above.    We were giving them some bird seed we brought along to feed the birds.  It's sort of a nice added attraction for visitors from the city to see "wild" life up close.

Here's another photo:
















When we were packing up to go, there were four of them waiting at the cabin door to see if they could get one last handout. I wish I had gotten a picture of that, but the camera was already packed away.

Disclaimer: I don't support feeding wild animals, especially deer. It's actually harmful for the animals and for humans. Once in awhile, though, I lose all reason.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. To participate – post a picture that you've taken (or one taken by a friend, or a family member) then add your link on Alyce’s site using Mr. Linky.

15 comments:

  1. Great photos. I agree, don't feed wildlife as you may do them more harm by giving them the wrong foods.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They are beautiful! Once my grandparents had a deer that would sneak into their kitchen to find food when they left the screen door open (they lived way out in the country).

    The server for my site has been down this morning (which is frustrating since I have no control over it). My apologies though! I'm still trying to get around to visit all of the Saturday posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love deer and these photos just warm my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, my goodness, that is so fantastic! Right out of your hand, too!

    Have a safe and Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  5. How lovely to have special visitors like that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. How sweet is that!? I know wild animals should be left on their own, but that face! *melts*

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great pictures of those young deer. I agree with your disclaimer

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely photos & such a sweet face...Those eyes especially just get to you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Feeding wildlife isn't a good idea, but these are obviously used to people. I just hope it doesn't keep them from foraging naturally.

    My Paris pics are here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. They are so sweet looking, it would be hard to resist feeding them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, those shots are great! Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  12. They are so beautiful. It's hard to resist when they come and look you in the eye. We're not supposed to feed wildlife either. There is a serious deer overpopulation problem here and feeding them makes it worse.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful shots of the deer. The one is just growing his antlers.
    Thanks for sharing your pictures, and Happy New Year to you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a wonderful way to spend the holiday with your husband!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your comment. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've been getting lots of spam comments, so I'm turning on word verification to help keep spammers away. I know it's a pain; I don't like it either. Hopefully, in time I'll be able to turn it off again. Thank you!