Peek-A-Boo I See You
I spotted this doe in a field and wanted to take her picture. She was heading west along the edge of the field behind a fence row of tall black berry brambles. I was on the opposite side completely out of her view, and heading east. I was going to sneak around the end of the fence row and snap a few quick pictures of her as she grazed.
I tip-toed along a grassy area, and being as quiet as I could, I headed for the opening where I could see around the end of the blackberries and get my shot.
As I carefully peered around the end of the row, much to my surprise there she was. She had changed course and followed along the same direction as I had traveled, perhaps hoping to sneak around the corner to look at me.
I am not sure who was more surprised, we both had wide eyes. We were only fifteen feet from one another.
As she stared at me, I eased my camera to my eye and took a series of photos. Thank goodness for a quiet shutter.
Usually a deer will spook when surprised, but she did not. Probably because she couldn’t see all of me and because the wind was in my favor, and because I made no sudden moves.
After I had my shot, I eased backward out of sight and back the way I had come and she went back to nibbling on blackberry leaves, and grasses.
I have often wondered if she heard me sneaking along and because she couldn’t see me decided to check out what was making the noise (though I know I was pretty quiet, deer do have amazing hearing).
I am quite sure she was was surprised as I was to spot me in that location. I wonder too what she thought at that moment. Interestingly we were polar opposites, by that I mean she was a prey animal and I, as a human, am a predator. We were close enough to see each others eyes clearly, as well as smell one another. Yet neither of us reacted in fear, just surprise. Because I was relaxed and not giving any indications of “hunting her”, she somehow felt safe enough to stand and stare while I photographed her, and then walked off quietly.
I love the photo because it shows her in her environment, trying to be sneaky to check me out, thinking she was hiding too. It was almost as if we had played peek-a-boo.