Sometimes I forget that walking out of my house anytime day or night and sometimes confronting deer or raccoons is unusual for some folks who live elsewhere. But since I have been doing this for 10 years now where my house is I guess I have just grown used to always being ready for human animal confrontation. If it is daylight and everyone can see each other it usually isn't a problem and even if my dogs are with me on leash I can prevent them from being injured by bucks with antlers or does with babies. You might think the deer are at threat from the dogs. No. Usually it is the dogs who are domesticated that are actually in the most danger because the deer are wild and the dogs(whatever they might like to think) are not. So, for a deer to kill or maim a dog takes about a second or two and the dog is wounded and sometimes can't walk.
Respecting, does with babies and bucks is very important if you are around wild deer. They are not pets and will attack you or your dogs if they feel threatened. Even raccoons know to leave deer alone. If you have ever seen what a raccoon can do to a human or one of your pets it will make you respect does and bucks(deer) at whole lot more.
So, when I see tourists getting too close taking pictures of deer (especially on the golf courses) I wonder if they know about deer.
There is always the story of the European couple who put their 5 year old child on the back of a deer in Yosemite and the deer just killed the child in one second by throwing it off its back and stomping it to death which took only a second or two. I wonder if all Americans understand just how wild deer really are. They aren't dangerous to me, only to my dogs if they get loose because I understand the basic psychology of a deer. But if you don't understand them then you could be injured by one of them, especially does with babies or bucks with antlers if you corner them.
The only time I get scared around deer is if one of them is injured or if one of my dogs get loose or if they are too scared to be normal in their actions.
Recently, I was just walking my dogs around a suburban road loop when a sequence of events happened that made me uncomfortable. First a van drove by which scared a large buck with a full rack of horns who started running toward my dogs and I at full tilt. Since he was scared by first the van and then my dogs he lowered his horns as he sped past us and for a moment I got pretty nervous because he was going about 20 miles an hour at the time. You may never have seen this but I have seen what deer with a full rack can do to a dog. I came across one poor Labrador black retriever with his 13 year old female owner in hysterics next to a golf course. The buck had ripped off his flesh on his entire right chest so it hung flapping as he walked sort of sideways home. As the blood dripped as he walked I tried to reassure the young female 13 year old master that her dog would be all right. Though he had a foot flap of flesh and skin hanging and one could see the bones of his chest under the flapping flesh.
This story is just to illustrate that if you don't understand what any deer is capable of you should stay at least 50 feet from them or further away if they are agitated to be safe. Deer are very beautiful creatures but they are wild and they are not safe to be around unless you understand them and their needs.
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