running with the deer


Yesterday morning I managed to get out for an early morning run. Ok, you’ll realize by now that “early morning” and I don’t go together too well. Correctly stated this should read that “Yesterday morning Jodies shoved me out of bed …”. You get the idea.

One of my favourite trails follows the top of a ridge, with a field on one side and a ravine/forest on the other. I came upon a deer eating breakfast in the field, and she bounded along parallel to the path, about 10 feet away. She seemed quite surprised that I was following her, and tried hide behind a bush. I stopped and snuck around the bush, and she bounded away again. This went on for a few minutes, until she got tired of playing hide’n’seek, and she ran off into the forest.

I knew deer could jump… but in any given jump this doe was covering about 10-15 feet horizontally, and 5 or so feet vertically; makes my “strides” seem awfully small.