What is that behind the cactus? Is that an Alpine goat amongst the Nubians? No, that is Edward the deer. Edward was born about two years ago in our front pasture and abandoned by his mother. He raised himself there safely away from predators with good access to the goat water trough and tasty left over alfalfa hay we use to herd our girls out to pasture. We saw him fairly regularly and thought he was a girl for the longest time. We used to call him Ethel, until this year when he became very bold and unafraid of us. We discovered Ethel was really Edward when he got close enough that we saw his dangly bits. He would join the herd whenever they were out and would help himself to our front yard when the gate was open. Notice in the picture that our guardian dogs didn't even pay attention to him anymore. Now the bad news is that Edward thought he was a goat and could not understand why he wasn't allowed to be with the girls. He jumped into their pen twice and had to be chased out each time (not an easy task, and worthy of America's funniest videos). In a panic, he knocked over our herd queen Love Bug, and in the process cut her udder with his hoof. The second time around he knocked down our herd dog who was assisting me up until then in the chase. To make things worse, when the girls began cycling and were ready to be bred, he decided he is in love with them. We decided Edward had to leave, he crossed the line. A few phone calls were made trying to decide what to do. Well, it seems our neighbor took care of things and he reported yesterday that our deer Edward has left for greener pastures. RIP my confused dear Edward, sorry it had to end this way.
