Born to Be Wild For Real.. Lots of Photos (Dial Up Warning)

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Her name is Blossom.

When she was very young, she said "Eee,... Eee" a lot,
so we started calling her Sweetee, and she responds to that name.

She is a young doe who came to us as a rescue infant in July.
A neighbor called, and asked if we could keep her.

We had a lot of resistance at first.
Raising a deer in not as easy as a puppy or a kitten.
They require a 24/7 Deer Momma.
In some ways, they are even more difficult than Human infants.
We eventually said yes because the alternative was death.


We kept her indoors for the first 10 weeks so she could be close to her Deer Mama (my wife Starkraven),
They slept together downstairs on the floor,
and Starkraven became a 24/7 Deer Mamma.


She was naturally curious about everything.

She dutifully followed her Deer Momma everywhere,
and tugged on the back of her shirt when she wanted attention.


She even developed a relationship with our male mouser, Monkee.
The still greet each other with nose kisses,
and have developed some interesting games.

Tame deer are not uncommon here.
It is legal to keep up to 5 in the state of Arkansas.
Some people keep them in pens (which is sad),
and one neighbor has a full grown doe that still lives in his house which joins a small outside pen.
His wife also became a 24/7 Deer Momma to a rescue fawn, and couldn't separate.
They watch TV together on the sofa.
It IS a hard and dangerous world for wild deer.

We decided we would let Sweetee choose her life after she was big enough to survive on her own.
We built a stable and pen to keep her safe from predators at night,
but decided to let her run free during the day,



...and she LOVES to run,




...and RUN



...and RUN!


I've watched deer run all my life...
run AWAY from me.
This is my first experience of a deer running toward or around me.
They are as awesome in their athletic ability as they are beautiful.


For now, she stays pretty close to the house,

and will join us during the daytime when we are outside.




She hasn't forgotten who her Deer Momma is,

and they still have a very special, close relationship with each other.



Last week, Deer Hunting Season opened in Arkansas,
and we worry about our little girl.

We put an orange ribbon around her neck.
It is made from plastic marking tape that she can break if it gets caught on something,
or won't choke her if she decides to join the deer that run wild.
Lately, we've seen her with other deer that roam around our place.

So far, she has returned home every evening,
but our hope is that she will eventually run with the wild deer,
and maybe return every so often to say "HI"
and get an apple treat.