Where the Deer and the Antelope play…

Another thing I love about Wyoming is how close humans are to wildlife – no matter where you go.  While we were parked just outside Cheyenne, we were surrounded by antelope.  The morning we arrived, we noticed a doe antelope wandering around near us, calmly eating grass and paying no attention to us.  Later that afternoon, a neighbor watched as she lay down among the tall grasses and gave birth.  The next morning, we watched the spindly-legged baby run and jump and play, staying close to his mama yet trying out his brand new legs in this brand new world.  Mama and baby weren’t more than forty feet away from us.  For the rest of the time we were there, it was a common sight to look out the trailer window and see them, or one of the other antelope that live in the area, munching grass and weeds right outside.

You can see how close this antelope is to the trailer. This is the morning before she gave birth.

This past weekend, we moved on down the highway and parked in a neighborhood in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  We went to Medicine Bow for their annual celebration – Bow Days and had a fun weekend watching a parade, eating at the pancake breakfast, cheering at the old fashioned kids’ games like sack races and tug of wars.  There was a cow chip throwing contest, and old car show, a banquet, Bingo, a street dance and fun.  Medicine Bow is the epitome of a small town, everyone knows everyone. When you aren’t a local, people introduce themselves and welcome you.  You don’t need to drive, things are close enough to walk, and neighbors and cars passing wave and say hi.  People and deer love Medicine Bow.  There are lots of people (population 265), and lots of deer.  Walking to the parade, we met a young buck going in the opposite direction.  Maybe I imagined it, but I think he nodded as we passed one another. A mama and her fawn watched us from under a tree when we walked back home later. I awoke on Sunday to find that a larger buck, antlers still in velvet, breakfasting just outside.

This isn’t the best picture since I took it through the screen window!

Environmentalists will tell us that human encroachment is detrimental to wildlife, and I’m certain that is true to some degree, but I know from experience that animals and people adapt and learn to live pretty closely together.  The mama antelope who gave birth within just a few yards of a busy home was laying right below a wind generator turning in the wind.  The deer in Medicine Bow don’t mind the cars, have learned to stay away from the yards with dogs, and while they might not be their ‘natural’ source of nutrition, they’ve learned that petunias are yummy. For their part, the humans have learned to put fencing around their most prized plants.

For me, since I don’t own any of the petunias on the menu, I count these encounters as gifts, precious opportunities to connect with four-legged beauty.  Once again, I am thankful for God’s creation and thankful to be back home in Wyoming.