RainDeerAndBambiForBreakfast2015
Introduction/Definition/etc
Riding on the trail, inside Arlington, heading back from around East Falls Church Metro, in the corner of my eyes, while raining a little, more expected, I see some movement, and look over and two large deer, just nibbling away on some plants between the paved W&OD trail, and the I-66 wall, near a bridge underpass at the Custis turn off, and what I've called the luge (winter icy?)...
Body
Passing that, slowing down to a woman with two dogs, both rather hyper, maybe the cold, maybe the deer nearby, possibly young dogs, and the lady was maybe half my age, I mention there are big deer just past the bridge on the rIght, and she may want to do something else...
Having seen deer in that area before, including a Friday night, one running along side of me, like as a biker I was a deer, with horns (bar ends), etc approaching dusk...
Another across from the stream, so some have been seen that far in, further out, towards Reston a herd of deer, late, and try getting by, they had the area, and I gave way, no harm, but they were not afraid like in hunting areas...
Well, the two in question, say a week or so before Xmas, on an early morning return ride, maybe 8.30 am? trying to get back before getting wet, weather was getting worse, and I'd done what I needed to do for the morning, really just wanted to get back to bed...
Some of the difficult part, was I didn't stop and get video, it might have made sense, to do that, as people would not believe it, without photographic proof, calling them raindeer, really spelled ReinDeer, apparently just domesticated caribou, according to Dirty Jobs in Alaska show run recently...
And the Deer Management Program or similar of Fairfax County seemed to be aggressively hunting them, as I heard male voices, aggressive, get and kill them voices, when I thought it should be more like Bambi and the TV commercial for staring down deer, a young girl and a talking set of deer get into an informal competition, who can stare down each other, SPOILER, the Deer Win, rumour has it these deer did not win, the hunters got them...
Not my first encounter with actions like that, around schools they are more careful about deer, besides the tick problems, deforestation, eating crops carefully grown by land owners, gardeners, and other Elmer Fudd types, of who is eating my crops/ expensive landscaping, etc...
Background for me, is I'm from areas, where there were no houses for miles, as far as the eye can see, it was set aside as wilderness, and with rust belt and bad economies, Fracking came in, and ruined some or most of the land, once the water table is poisoned, might as well pack up, and leave the region...
Worse yet, the nearby river goes into the Chesapeake Bay, like agricultural runoff, poisoning fish, creating algae, and other problems for decades/ possibly lifetimes, unlike nuclear which can be longer, an EPA SuperFund site, maybe later, like Potomac Yards, IDK...
And ancestral family were hunters, my grandfather, even in his advanced age, still hunted or was pleased with donated deer, when too old to hunt himself. My father hunted, but didn't care for it, but still liked fishing, mostly trout, but probably did sea fishing sometimes too...
My uncle taught me about guns, and later shot himself when terminal with cancer, after experimental treatments failed, not that I blame him, but it does give a different view on weapons...
So I might see the other side too, remember
BambisOutToGetMeAndSnakesInTheStore2011
about a trip to VOCAL Conference in Radford, VA, along the Skyline Drive, at sunset, with deer after deer, just standing in the park road, trying to dodge them, honk to get past, and one set of maybe 12?, one broke off and came back at me from the side, presumably the male going one way, a female the other, then the male going back to make a charge on me, like competition, on a motorcycle, and go back to the female... Herd swarming or deer flash mobbing, IDK...
Similar, but further north, a bear pair, one went towards me, presumably the mom, and I was able to speed off, just before the Northern SNP gate at Front Royal, VA, which I reported as going in the park, to the ranger station there, at the entrance, on checkin...
Other trips to the SNP park, it was a delight to see wildlife, even if bears were wandering thru the bathroom areas, a sighting of several bears, mom with many cubs, while someone I was riding in four wheels with, was in the bathroom, no proof of that, either, but most believe it...
At G!I, bear rescue was a highlight of the trip, see
HippieClownCamp2011 and similar, for more on that...
Do I think "grandmother should be run over by a reindeer"? Nope, but holiday time, and other seasonal festivities, and you think of times past, and going not that far out, from South Arlington, and start seeing deer, wonder if city kids who have never seen deer and don't get out much, past the Beltway, into Rural areas, might have wanted to see the animals, in a safe fashion, even if for a stealthy staring contest...
Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Pond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson
and many other links included in the text, above and below...
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
Growing up, travelling to grandma's house, literally, we were hit by a deer, or dad drove into one, they jump out into the path of traffic, stare deer eyed into headlights, etc and like squirrels, really big ones that take out bumpers, entire vehicles of drivers, passengers, with kids, and more..., SUV/Vans/Trucks might not even bother stopping and further up north, crash guards might be necessary, Alaska, maybe more Caribou, Elk and Moose, much less bears and others are just in traffic, and not necessarily scared of traffic, people, and in park land, they generally don't run away, how ever many acres, they are supposedly safe and protected, it is their park, we just visit, and go thru on occasion...
Come to think of it Meir's John Muir quote or similar (NPS & later Sierra Club founder? or Thoreau? Walden Pond?), of weekend travelers, going to visit a nature store/ amusement, aka, national park, for a weekend, or week, maybe a month, when we historically used to live in it, try colonizing it, taming it, and basically ended up killing the buffalo, and eventually most of the planet... See Climate Change, Nukes, etc...
Come to think of it, can't afford to rejoin Sierra Club, but on my list of things to support, if I had the money to...
Maybe a calendar of nature photos, instead of a back/daypack, as a free gift option?
Plan my time away from all the cray cray people I normally encounter, holiday times, and just Day to Day, ala
AttackOfTheMillennials2015
and just about everything else...
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
What is your knowledge of Nature?
Grow up in it?
Basically a Red Neck?
Green Acres sound like your life plan?
Buy The Farm?
Work the Farm?
and/or 40 Acres and a Mule and glad to leave share cropping, let mechanization do it, now each mega farmer feeding 150 people or more...
Have you encountered Deer, etc in the road, by the side of the road/ interstate, etc
See FreedomRiders2014 and other similar stuff, maybe up here and elsewhere...
What is your feeling on road kill?
Ever been to the scene of a crash involving deer?
Was your family out to finish it off, after hitting it? Presumed dead, and / or wounded?
Like necks cut in Manassas as bicycling out to class, even late, returning...
WeldingBasics2013
What happens when deer are not around much anymore?
Do you think Kangaroo are cute and cuddly like Bears?
and/or Big Giant Rats?
Just because they are down under, and continents away, does that make them more or less valuable?
exotic? strange, and/or don't care about them, never seen one, probably never will, and zoos are full of them type apathy?
Ever feel fur, deer, koala, beer, mink, etc?
Nice?
What about the animal that used to inhabit that skin/fur?
Didn't they need it?
And/or they were meat anyway, and must be good shepards /stewards of resources and use all that is provided, by God, hunter(s). fishers, produce vendors/purveyors, etc...
Was it just breed for that purpose like those who eat meat?
See YouBeTurkey2015 and HappyTurkeyDay2009 ...
Should the deer killed on public lands be donated back to say food pantries further out?
(reference StreetSense article where that was done, not sure if it was a syndicated/ reprint/wire piece or closer in...
exercise left to the reader, hint circa? 2008?)
Where surprise would not happen of "Why is Bambi on my plate?!?"
Says the hungry/enraged kid vegan wanna be?
What other animals, in other cultures, and even ours, are considered sacred and not for consumption?
Horse meat as dog food?
Why is the conversation Gross?
Does your food only come from a grocery store, can/ freezer, etc?
Darwin Rules?
or Just and Excuse?
vague reference to
DarwinPlusOne2015
and other stuff happens drivel..
License
Creative Commons Share and Share Alike, Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated
Page History
20160102 Jerry
- Jerry created this page to dump a public policy problem, encountered a little while back...
Page Statistics
Page Views: 
since creating on 20160102
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.