Post by snoozy on Jul 6, 2020 15:07:23 GMT
My husband and I are e-cycling the Olympic Discovery Trail across the north of the Olympic Peninsula in chunks. Yesterday, we made it from somewhere 12 miles west of Sequim to Port Angeles. For a portion of the journey, the trail goes along the coast on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We stopped and had lunch.
It was then that I noticed, about 50 yards away, a deer standing in the water, almost like a statue. It was about 12ft out in the water, and we wondered what on earth it was doing out there? Sometimes its head bent down to the water, and I was afraid it might drink the saltwater, which would surely kill it. What if it were stuck in the rocks underwater, or had a broken leg, and "water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink"?
My husband walked slowly along the embankment, to get a closer look without scaring it. He came back and said it was absolutely motionless, maybe it was dead.
Well, if it were dead, it would have fallen over and anyway, when we first noticed it, the head was up and its big ears quite prominent.
So then I went over, but I went to the water's edge, close. I talked to the fawn gently, saying I was sorry I couldn't help it (a treacherous, barnacled, rocky beach.) The little critter was so scared, like it was paralyzed. I asked it if it couldn't just manage to get to shore, and gestured towards the land. I took one more little step towards it and the fawn suddenly bounded out of the water and down the shore! Boing boing boing!
I think maybe it had gotten separated from the mother and had accidentally bounded into the water, and couldn't figure out what it had gotten into. Or maybe it was injured and was cooling the wound. I don't know. At least it wasn't going to drink saltwater to death.
When I got back to Bill and the bikes, he was looking at his phone. I figured he must've been videoing the scene.
He asked, "So what happened? I wasn't watching."
Nonplussed, I answered, "It bounded out of the water and down the beach thataway."
I said jokingly, "I do a mitzvah and you didn't even watch...hummph."
I hope the little fawn finds its mama.
It was then that I noticed, about 50 yards away, a deer standing in the water, almost like a statue. It was about 12ft out in the water, and we wondered what on earth it was doing out there? Sometimes its head bent down to the water, and I was afraid it might drink the saltwater, which would surely kill it. What if it were stuck in the rocks underwater, or had a broken leg, and "water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink"?
My husband walked slowly along the embankment, to get a closer look without scaring it. He came back and said it was absolutely motionless, maybe it was dead.
Well, if it were dead, it would have fallen over and anyway, when we first noticed it, the head was up and its big ears quite prominent.
So then I went over, but I went to the water's edge, close. I talked to the fawn gently, saying I was sorry I couldn't help it (a treacherous, barnacled, rocky beach.) The little critter was so scared, like it was paralyzed. I asked it if it couldn't just manage to get to shore, and gestured towards the land. I took one more little step towards it and the fawn suddenly bounded out of the water and down the shore! Boing boing boing!
I think maybe it had gotten separated from the mother and had accidentally bounded into the water, and couldn't figure out what it had gotten into. Or maybe it was injured and was cooling the wound. I don't know. At least it wasn't going to drink saltwater to death.
When I got back to Bill and the bikes, he was looking at his phone. I figured he must've been videoing the scene.
He asked, "So what happened? I wasn't watching."
Nonplussed, I answered, "It bounded out of the water and down the beach thataway."
I said jokingly, "I do a mitzvah and you didn't even watch...hummph."
I hope the little fawn finds its mama.
there's land all around the dam & the creek. The one I saw started to dart onto the road, he saw my car & bolted back into the reeds. I was very sad that day when my son told me.