VIL nov 09 GRID3.indd - Tubac Villager

20
Mule Deer
by Maggie Milinovitch
It is my habit to allow my dogs to take
me for a walk each morning. We head out
generally at daybreak in the summer and a
bit after sunrise in the winter. Having had
the good sense many years ago to put my
home in the middle of nowhere, the pups
and I leave the house wandering in any
direction without worry of running into
people. Just cows and various native fourlegged
vegetarians.
The three dogs are not leashed, but are
well-behaved and have a job to do. They
bark to let the cows know to step aside,
we’re comin’ through. To protect me and
clear my path of any vicious jackrabbits
that might be lying in wait, they will
occasionally give chase.
On a recent cool, crisp morning, returning
home from our walk we were approaching
the north fence of our 40 acres. It’s rough
terrain and we were down in a wash with
rock walls and lots of trees and shrubs. I
saw a deer – a female mule deer.
The doe saw us first and bolted to get out
of our path. I tried to distract the dogs so
they wouldn’t see, start barking and further
alarm her. It almost worked. Then the
doe’s companion vaulted through the air.
A magnificent buck with a proud antler
display, executed a leap that bridged the
wash from one rock face to the other. I
gazed in wonder at the beauty.
Then Peanut, a sawed-off Chihuahua mix
with a Napoleon complex, saw him and
started the alarm.
It’s hunting season. Our
place is surrounded by
State or cattle land.
There is little sanctuary
for deer out there. I felt
awful having the deer
flushed from the hiding
places they had found
inside our fence. I
vowed never to walk the dogs on our place
during hunting season again. When I got
to the house I did a little research on the
air-borne ungulate.
I have seen deer of various shapes and sizes
in many places throughout in the country,
but realized I didn’t know much about
them. Deer can do some pretty amazing
things to evade and escape humans. I once
saw a deer, at a dead stand still, parallel to
a five-foot fence, flex his legs, then clear
that fence and trot away. At full speed they
can dive through the narrow spaces in a
barbed-wire fence without breaking stride.
In our area be have white-tail and mule
deer and they are quite different in their
behavior and appearance. Mule deer do
not run like other deer, when alarmed, they
“stot.” A word that describes a bounding
movement in which all four feet are off the
ground at once and all four hit the ground
at the same time. This allows them to leap
up to 24 feet in distance, evade predators
in rough terrain, achieve speeds of up to
45 mph for short distances, see above the
shrubs, or, if necessary, do a mid-air course
correction of up to 180 degrees.
31
Tubac Rd.
398-9088
Mule deer have a black tip on their tail,
white tails do not. They also have larger ears,
giving them their common name. White tail
antlers fork off a main branch; the muley’s
are bifurcated – forked – with two equal
length tines. The rack can reach a four-foot
spread.
Like other deer they antlers begin to grow in
spring in anticipation of the rut, generally in
November and December, and then are shed
at the end of that time. The doe, after about
200 day’s gestation, generally gives birth to
twins which stay with her for a year. The
fawns have camo-spots and no scent when
they are very young so their mother can
leave them to feed.
Among their other special talents, they have
a desert adaptation helpful during droughts.
Muleys, with their large feet can paw down
to water up to two feet deep, which they
find with their keen sense of smell.
Deer are primarily browsers, but graze green
grasses, berries, acorns and forbs. Like a cow
they have multiple stomachs, one for storage
until they have time to “chew their cud.”
They generally stay close to a water source
and forage.
ON
TUBAC’S
PLAZA
Humans pose the largest threat to deer
– cars, guns, land habitat destruction,
but they also get to look out for cougars
and protect their young from the coyote,
bobcat, fox, eagles and such. They are active
during the mornings and late afternoons
and rest in protected areas during the day.
If you see them bounding through traffic
during the day, it’s probably because they
were pressured.
There doesn’t seem to be any quiet places
for them anymore. Border crossers and
border agents, nature photographers and
bird watchers, hunters and 4-wheelers,
prospectors and flower-fondlers, and sweet
little ol’ ladies walking their dogs all add to
the stresses.
It’s just not easy being Bambi in the desert.
Even so, these delightful animals seem
to survive despite all the pressures and
disturbances to their otherwise pastoral
nature. I just wish they could read – I’d put
up signs on my fence, “Deer Sanctuary –
No Hunting Allowed.” I’ll still take my
dogs out the front gate until the hunt is
over.
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