The Wild Side of Madison

My friend Carla and I were cruising at a very slow pace through Clifty Falls State Park when we spotted these twin fawns, enjoying a small amount of independence from their mother, near the roadway. I stretched outside the car window to get this picture with Carla’s camera. Carla inched her almost-silent hybrid closer and closer. Before long the fawns decided we were paying them too much attention, and they sprinted off toward the woods. Mama was waiting at woods’ edge and probably gave them a good talking-to.

It’s heart-warming to see these beauties roaming freely and a real treat seeing these twin fawns.   I hope you’ll have similar enjoyable encounters.  According to Indiana DNR, “Just 50 years ago, we could not have taken a hike to enjoy the Indiana countryside and been fortunate enough to encounter the now familiar white-tailed deer bounding across a cornfield or disappearing into a woodlot. By the 1930s, the whitetail, an abundant species when the settlers arrived in the early 1800s, had been pushed to extinction in Indiana. Now, the Hoosier state can boast of a healthy and productive herd.”

Whitetail deer have great peripheral vision, they can see almost 310 degrees around themselves and the slightest movement can startle them.   Because of their excellent low light vision, they are very active at night.  Watch out for them because they are watching YOU.  Don’t forget that autumn is deer mating season so the deer are on the move.