This is Big Boy, our handsome back yard stud.
Tonight we watched him court his girls.
A young fawn wondering around in the high grass behind our house first caught our attention. It boldly walked right into the yard. Thinking it must have been kicked out by his mother, I was feeling sad.
Shortly after spotting the fawn, though, two doe were running as fast as they could across the pasture with Big Boy behind. Then the two doe doubled back around and Big Boy stopped. The three deer went back and forth running, stopping and just looking at each other. Then repeating. I thought maybe we were going to see some action, but guess this was just little courtship fun. After watching all of this, we decided the fawn was just getting out of the way. All of this went on until it was too dark to see.
Dan and I both commented we understand why so many deer die on the road this time of year. If our evening drama is normal, there is a lot of crazy running around as part of the rut.
Just between you and me, I hope Big Boy makes it through the season. He is a beauty. If he doesn’t, it appears there will be a couple little ones next spring that take after him.