Fear of Dear

THE TRAIL curved a bit, and i looked up and saw a big deer standing next to the trail, nibbling on a tree. In august, it had no rack of antlers, so it must have been a female, right? It was big, though. Full grown, taller than I.... ...there was a time when i wasn't afraid of deer. But the illusion of Bambi vanished with childhood. Deer can be dangerous, by standing on their hind legs and boxing with their front feet, in case you've never seen a video of a deer catchng up with a hunter...... i recall the time i saw the same two babies, yearlings, every day, while running on a farm. One day the mother saw me watching her children, and lost patience with me. First, she started pawing the ground with her front leg, which i thought was cute, because i totally failed to see the warning she was giving me. Then she suddenly charged at me, i was too shocked to know what to do. My initial reaction was anger, but that rapdidly gave way to fear, then outright panic, and i ran away, hoping she wouldn't run my down and kill me. Thank the Lord she didn't. She stopped about twenty feet behind me, and watched me keep running... in my neck of the woods there weem to be plenty of deer, and here i was again, but this time i had to get past the deer nibbling leaves in order to get back to my car....i decided to badk track a wit, to give her a chance to leave. But upon my return she hadn't left; she was still nibbling leaves. I swear i jogged up to within about twenty feet of her, and she showed no sign of leaving. wasn't willing to get any closer. Images of bing strong brave hunters on the ground , in a fetal position, behing attacked by deer hooves flooded my mind. I must have extended my run by thirty minutes waiting for her to finish grazing, and leave the trail, which she finally did. I thought to myslef what great shape I am in to run all that extra time, and how noble I am to graciously allow a noble animal to finish dining without interruption.What a guy!