August Surprises

The monsoons have settled in for a few days so we’ve been sitting out on the deck in the evenings watching the show. Locals say summer has turned the corner and fall is on its way. It’s hard to believe until we see leaves on the aspens with a ting of color, other summer plants wilting away and migrant birds spent from spring nesting showing up in faded colors. The spring fawns are bigger, spots starting to fade and they are constantly ditching their moms making the does nervous. Then Wart showed back up and we knew, summer is on its way out.

Wart was a yearling when we first moved to The Ranch. He kinda adopted us (could be because of the apples I fed him) and spent much of his time rambling about. His second year he started to show signs of deer warts, better known as cutaneous fibromas. A kinda gross infliction, it normally isn’t fatal, just horribly unsightly and Wart (what we named him) had a mild case. As they grew they got to the point they would pop off (got as big as a softball). Wart had one below his left eye, a small scar remains today which is how we know it is him. We’ve not seen Wart for perhaps 18 months and often wondered what happened to him.

Then a few days ago he showed back up. Looking with bins I saw the scar under the left eye and between that and the fact he walked right up to me and ignores Maggie, we knew Wart was back. And he has grown up a bit sporting a nice rack! In the past, we have seen nice bucks but only as they moved through, never staying around. I’d always hoped Wart would grow up, grow a big rack and make for a great subject. It would appear at least for the moment, that might come true. What’s even cooler is he has a friend he brought with him, an even bigger buck. The last couple of evenings they bed down about thirty-forty feet from the deck in the tall grass and chill until sunset when they move to the green grass in the front. Up until last night we just watched cause the light was hot, nasty as it squeaked through the trees. The new buck was a little camera shy but Wart, yeah, no shyness there. And after the first few clicks, I knew for certain it was Wart, always was a character. We’re looking forward to fall to see how this all plays out because it’s started with great August surprises!