Published by Alice on October 28, 2009
in deer.
Our reliance on modern medicine is so complete that when we see a wounded animal, we assume it will die. But it wasn’t so long ago that the healing power of nature–vis medicatrix naturae–was well respected.
I took this photograph of a deer with a broken leg at the end of April. There are plenty of predators around here, so I assumed this guy would be dead by summer.
Instead of dying, this injured deer got big and strong in the high mountain pastures this summer (thanks to vis medicatrix naturae).
Look who came back this fall! I wouldn’t have recognized him except for the leg. Massive chest, sleek coat, fat and ready for winter.
He’s happily ensconced in a small herd, and his leg isn’t pretty, but it’s sound.
He puts his full weight on it. He has a limp but it’s not profound, and he runs as fast as the other deer.
He probably injured his left antler when it was in velvet, leaving a little three-pronged spike. I doubt a hunter would take a buck with such a lopsided rack, so he’s probably safe this fall.
Rutting season is coming up, and he could get lucky this year or the next.
And if you suggested to him that he should have been put out of his misery last spring, he’d kick your butt.
Thanks for all your kind messages. I’ll be leaving the site up for a year or so, and may start posting weekly next month.
I am suddenly through writing a weekday blog. I realized yesterday that I have written my last post, and it came to me with such clarity that I am barely able to string together a few sentences of farewell.
Thanks to everyone who visited over the last year and a half,
Alice
42. A Drinking Song by W.B. Yeats
| WINE comes in at the mouth |
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| And love comes in at the eye; |
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| That’s all we shall know for truth |
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| Before we grow old and die. |
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| I lift the glass to my mouth, |
5 |
| I look at you, and I sigh. |
|
Have a good weekend!!
I’ve been trying to acquire a pair of elk ivories for nearly a decade. No one in my family hunts elk so my chances of getting them are slim, but whenever anyone I know gets a license and goes out elk hunting, I mention that I’d sure love the bugle teeth if they’re not already spoke for. (Typical response: You’ll have to get in line.)
This is what I think of when I’m fishing for elk teeth, but the reality turned out to be a whole lot grittier.
Because it finally happened–a friend with an elk license said, I have five pairs of teeth that are just hanging around. You want ‘em?
I now have two pairs of ivories, and they don’t look remotely like jewelry. I spent a couple of nights cleaning them with a dental tool, scraping off the tartar and gruesome pieces of dried flesh.
This is about halfway through the cleaning process.
It is possible to tell the age and sex of your elk from its bugle teeth… if you’re an expert. From the chart, I think the ivories to the right are from a youngster and the ivories to the left are from a 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 year old, but I can’t guess their sex.
Finally, here’s a link to the sound of an elk bugling, thanks to the Pueblo Zoo (who says “Contrary to their name, the (bugle) teeth do not play a part in the elk vocalizations…”)
I say, if the sound of those bull elk advertising their virility doesn’t leave you hot and bothered, well, you’re probably not an elk.
A few mallard ducks spent the summer in our part of the irrigation ditch. Those ducks had to avoid the neighborhood cats, bobcats, raccoons, skunks and coyotes. Their survival depended on them keeping a low profile, so I left them strictly alone.
Bob told me this morning that they raised a few nests of ducklings while I was looking the other way. There are now more than a dozen ducks hiding in the ditch, but they’re shy (here I’m spying on them behind a full set of greenery.)
This is one of the ducklings, a newly mature male mallard whose head and neck feathers are just coming in.
The rest of the flock is just around a bend. I’m hiding behind grasses here, and as soon as they see me they swim away
and fly away.
I was living in Italy when Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize. Overnight, Florence was covered with big posters that said, Bravo, Lech. The Italians were thrilled for that Polish steelworker, but at the time I thought the reaction in Poland was probably mixed.
Thirty years later, our country is so divided that the Italians celebrate Obama’s Nobel in a way that we cannot. (”The World Changes”, says the poster.)
So I wanted to say Bravo, Barack, you have brought honor to us all.
There was a big bear scat in the driveway today. According to the local Bear Smart program, the bears are eating 20,000 calories a day to plump up for hibernation. This pile of scat was mostly apples.
A lot of apples. I thought you could see how big the pile was if I put an apple next to it, but you can’t tell what size the apple is.
It looks like a big loaf next to the mayo, but mayo jars come in more than one size so you still can’t be sure how large this pile is.
Matchbox cars come in just one size, and from here you can see that bear left a pile to be reckoned with.
or,
a big bear was hanging around, and all I got was this crappy photo.
Fall is the time when people assess how many animals they’re keeping through winter, and the “Miscellaneous for Free” section of the classified ads can be a dangerous read around here. The list today includes four absolutely free male llamas, a small mare, a 15-yr-old dog, two litters of kittens, and a pet steer that needs both outdoor shelter and a stall bedded with straw.
I love a bargain, but Bob passed on the whole lot of them.
Published by Alice on October 6, 2009
in deer.
Last winter a wildlife biologist came by to see the tolerant bucks who wintered here, and pointed out that deer in this region are short of minerals. I’d be doing them a real favor if I got them a salt lick, he said. He also said that adding some calories to the landscape in deep winter isn’t feeding (which is illegal); it’s giving the females a nutritional boost that allows them to deliver healthy fawns.
The deer came down from the mountains a few days ago, so I got them a mineral block. It cost $5.75, it weighs 44 lbs, and I’m going to be really popular.
Except at home. The dog and I agree about the deer, but Bob does not.
You’re not feeding the deer, said Bob.
I’m not feeding the deer, I said. I got them a mineral block. It’s a photo prop.
(They’re gonna love it.)
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