A couple of weeks ago when walking around the village and rounding the corner of Bunker Hill heading up to Lexington , I noticed several animals moving East through the woods.  As the sunset light was dim, it took a few seconds for my eyes to focus.  A herd of white tailed deer was running one behind the other in a line in the snow.  I counted at least 8 and I believe there were more before my eyes focused.  They and I were silent as they moved through the deep snow.  No doubt the herd knew I was there yet continued to move as one body down the hill.  The moment was magical- suddenly I was in touch with nature.    

This has always been my reaction to seeing one deer or several. Perhaps it is their shyness and fear of humans, rightly so I might add. Perhaps it their size which is quite large compared to most mammals around these parts. Perhaps it is the elegance and grace in which they move.  I am not sure.  It is just always a strange pleasure to see them- like meeting an old friend I haven’t seen in years.  Unlike a friend these little meetings are always entirely silent.  Often a deer, suspicious of my presence, has raised a head to sniff my scent.   And, if the wind is in my face, and in my direction, it will take the deer a moment to respond with my hanging on to the moment and then suddenly the deer is gone.  

That evening I spent time on the Internet, and read some books of my own, finding out what I could about these animals.  White tailed deer are one of the most successful mammals in North and much of South America.  They are found in Northern Canada and as far South as Peru .  They are found in all but three states. They live in cold and warm climates, deserts and marsh land, deciduous forests and grasslands.  These agile creatures can bound away at thirty miles an hour. They are good swimmers and often will escape predators by swimming across streams and lakes. During winter deer follow the same trails and often herd together to help make moving through deep snow easier.  

In summer White Tailed Deer are solitary and when a doe gives birth to one or  two fawns in late Spring,  she hides them in tall grass- in  separate places in the case of twins.  The fawns lie in the grass with their necks outstretched until mother arrives back to nurse.  Fawns can walk shortly after birth and begin eating grass in only a week or two after birth. Both male and femail deer reach sexual maturity at about 12 months.  

In summer their diet consists primarily of grasses.  In the winter their diet consist of buds of trees such as maple, aspen, sassafrass and birch.  It is not difficult to see where deer have been browsing. Unlike the clean cut of the hare and rabbit, the tip of branch  will appear somewhat ragged.  The height of the cut is not as sure a clue since hares and rabbits can reach higher branches in winter due to snow.  In winter in snow their presence is often revealed by their cloven hoof prints. I have frequently noted deer prints even on the village grounds.  They will eat the inner bark of cedar trees and can be noted where the outer bark has been stripped away.  Much has been made of the potential damage which they can do a forest. In fact, except on occasional years, they do no permanent harm in this area.  Yearly hunting of deer helps keep the deer population from burgeoning. Other predators are dogs, and coyotes.  

White tailed deer can be harmful to vegetable crops, fruit trees and ornamental trees. They also can be vectors of disease . The deer serves as hosts to ticks which carry Lyme disease which has spread to this area from Lyme , Connecticut where it was first noted. This slow spread is primarily due to the fact that deer do not travel long distances summer or winter and usually remain in an area of less than a mile square their entire lives.  Also, they can cause automobile accidents resulting in serious injuries and even death to occupants. Deer can live about 20 years in captivity yet most live only for a couple years in the wild.  

White tailed deer are hunted for meat and sport.  Deer hides are still used to make buckskin. And while they are extremely common today at the turn of century they were nearly extinct in Massachusetts due to over hunting and lack of forested area.  At the turn of the century much of the land was used as farm land which diminished forested areas.  

Despite their high numbers I still enjoy seeing deer.  Most of my sightings have consisted of a flick of a white tail and the rear end of the deer as it bounds away, occasionally as in the recent event, the meeting is a little more studied and always a brief moment of pleasure.