Oh, Deer

We've had a lot more snow so far this winter, and now we have a lot more white-tailed deer coming around our yard to eat the dead flowers and our cedar trees. I don't mind the dead vegetation being eaten, but it isn't nice thinking about them eating our cedar already. Usually they don't start looking in our area until February or March.

We see a lot of tracks every morning, and the other day we were able to see some early in the morning. There was a buck, a doe, and a fawn. I was able to get some photos through the window of the buck. 

I'm not sure if you would call this an 8-point buck or not. When I was looking to see how you figure out how many points a buck has, I found a lot different views. It seems to depend on where you live and what type of deer you have.

 If anyone knows what this one is, let me know. One site said that if you can hang a set of binoculars on it, you call that a point.

Antlers fall off in early to mid winter and then start growing again in spring. I wonder why we don't see leftover antlers in the bush.

 
Apparently most do not live beyond six years old when they are in the wild. Some have been known to live 10 years or more, though. It looks like this won't be a nice winter here for them if they are already having to come around to look for food. However, we do enjoy watching them even if they are being a nuisance. I'm hoping to get some more pictures as the year goes on. 

In His (God's) hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:10