Junior The Buck Deer Story

Reader Contribution by Bruce Mcelmurray
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This is a fun and enjoyable subject to write about. When we first moved to our present remote location, I was outside cleaning up tree limbs from the side of the house when a doe deer approached with two small fawns. I continued to work and she slowly edged closer so I started to talk to her and tell her what a beautiful family she had. The fawns would bounce and run around and as I worked my way across the area she would follow me and I would talk to her about various subjects. She looked interested in what I had to say and listened attentively most of the day as she went from one area to another with me.

Around two years later we were standing looking out our back window when an eight point buck walked up along the outside of the fence and would look first at the bird feeder and then at us. It was clear he wanted  bird seed. I grabbed an empty ice cream bucket to go out and bring up some bird seed from under the house where we kept it. I talked to him as I went down to get some seed under the house. After putting some seed in the bucket and turning around I was surprised to see he had followed me as he stood waiting at the top of the stairs. I took the bucket of seed up to him and as I did he walked down meeting me half way and  commenced eating out of the bucket while I held it. We soon realized that he was one of the fawns from earlier now all grown up with his twin brother standing off several feet but less bold.

We called him Junior and that was the start of a long warm mutual relationship that lasted many years. He stayed around until the snow would become too deep for him; then he would move on down the mountain. He let us know in his own way when he would be departing and we always knew he was leaving. He would eat from my hand and he actually adopted us as one of his trusted friends. Before I go much further let me say I know it is not good to feed wild animals, but we did not feed him on a regular basis only on occasion. I would be outside working and he would follow me around just like his mother did that fall day and I would talk to him like I talked to her. I would feed him his favorite apple by hand on occasion, which was a Fuji apple. He didn’t care for other types but loved Fuji apples. When his antlers would get caught in my shirt sleeve he would hold himself very still while I untangled us. He allowed me to pick ice balls off his forehead in the winter and also rub his nose.  He would make small mewing sounds when he got personal attention or grooming.

Living 15 years in the wild is a long time for a deer and Junior stayed with us for most all of his long life. If anyone else came to our house he would simply vanish, but with us he would stay close and had no hesitation to walk right next to me when I would be working outside. He made friends with our dogs and was always respectful and a gentleman in every way. He ultimately grew to be a huge buck and during the rut would venture off for a couple days at a time and then come back totally exhausted. He would stand outside the fence near our back door like a sentinel and wait until we acknowledged him and then he would lay down and go soundly to sleep. He clearly trusted us to keep watch for him. I could walk within a couple feet of him and he would not even wake up, that was how much he trusted us to watch out for him – which we did faithfully. He couldn’t have been more safe had he chosen to bed down inside Ft. Knox.

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