Deer Mamma Came Back

A few months ago, I crashed into a deer.  Three of the kids (including the baby) were in the car with me.  Nobody was hurt --except the deer.  I felt terrible about it, but grateful that we were all unhurt.  A deer coming through the windshield could have ended our lives. 

A few days after that happened, a lame deer wandered, limpingly, into our backyard, with her two kids.  She was limping so badly that I half-believed it could have been the same deer I'd hit on the road.  If not the same deer, it was one that had likely been hit by a car. 

I tried to call the local fish & game dept., but they were closed.  I called a wildlife rescue expert and he said that I was lucky the fish & game dept. was closed because they automatically shoot the deer, which is unnecessary;  deer, he said, are very resilient and often will adapt and heal.

So, I bought deer chow and put it in the back yard.  A day or two later, my deer friends vanished.  What had happened?  Did someone else call fish & game and have her shot?  Did she wander into another street and get hit again?  Was she surviving on her own, limping in the wilderness?

This week there was a cold snap.  Temperatures have been really, really, really cold-- and suddenly, here she was, back again.  We were sitting at breakfast today, A.J., D.H., and I, when the limper and her two kids cam along.  I literally jumped up in the air, here in the kitchen.  I was so happy to see her alive.

She's been here most of the day.