When dinner time was drawing nigh, I went outside to look for Tom. As I went towards the door into the garage from the laundry, I saw a deer -- doe -- amble across the drive. So I went through the side door and watched her feed for a while. She looked up at one point and seemed to look right at me. Then she went back to grazing. She kept coming closer and closer to the house, out of the brush along the road and into the park-like area by the lawn. I stood quite still and watched for about five minutes. Occasionally she would look up at me, but she didn't run away.Finally she began to nibble on one of the poplars Tom planted this spring, so I clapped my hands. It startled her, and she backed away from the tree. But she continued to graze there in the open. I walked around to the garage and out onto the paved part of the drive. She looked up at me and stared, moving her head and acting like she was trying to see something behind me. She didn't appear afraid of me at all. After a few more minutes, during which she moved closer and closer, she nipped at one of the recently planted trees again. I clapped my hands, but it made no impression. Finally I spoke to her, and she turned, jumped into the bushes and took off.
There is a deer park in the Dells that is one of the oldest tourist attractions in the area. They have a bunch of other animals, too -- a sort of petting zoo -- and you can buy food for them. This deer actually moved towards me at one point, looking like she was waiting for me to feed her. I don't think she had escaped from the park, but that was the impression she gave. Tom thinks it may be that the drought has affected them in some way. We also have chronic wasting disease in the deer in the state, but she showed none of the signs of that -- drooping head and such. A couple of affected deer have been found in the county, so we do keep an eye out.--------------
cervine -- adj., relating to or resembling deer
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