Edged with Light

edged-with-lightEdged with Light

Daily Photo

This ridge is within sight of where we got married.  On that day, the men at the wedding were unable to concentrate on the ceremony because a majestic 5 point buck was resting under a tree less than 50 yards from us.  At that time it was common to see 30 to 40 deer grazing over the ridge and into the valley below.  Now there are rarely as many as 10.  The deer aren’t endangered but they aren’t as relaxed as they used to be either.

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28 Comments
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Toni
Guest
15 years ago

Probably all the pot activity you’ve got going on in your area. This is a spectacular shot, Kym. The light is perfect.

Sandi
Guest
15 years ago

My hubby would be drooling. Nice capture and great backlighting.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

The photo didn’t come out as crisp as I would like. I haven’t got the hang of backlighting and getting sharp focus. But I wanted to post it for me. Because, it was a beautiful morning and I don’t want to forget it ever.

Rose
Guest
15 years ago

WOW!

max
Guest
max
15 years ago

That is really beautiful Kym. I do not think I would like it as much if it were crisper. I like it how it is a little soft like a myth or fairy tale on the horizon.

eric
Guest
15 years ago

Pure serenity.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Max, that’s how the stag (see I even use fairy tale words to describe him) seemed —as if beckoning me to a destiny. I followed til he Stared back at me out of the woods, the branches mostly hiding him and I took pity and let him slip away–not that I could have followed if he had run but that’s the way it felt that morning.

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
15 years ago

Beautiful. And how much nicer for him to be shot by a camera instead of a gun.

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
15 years ago

(although I do like venison!)

Chris
Guest
15 years ago

Wow what a sight….and so nice of that buck to pose for your camera in just the right spot.

Ernie's Place
Guest
15 years ago

Now that’s Humboldt County!

The Elephant in the room is, “What Happened to all the deer Kym?” Did they get caught eating “Medicine”?

Staff
Member
15 years ago

There are still lots of deer. They just don’t seem to come in as large of groups. For awhile there was a decline, I believe, in the population but its pretty healthy now. As far as I know only one other family on the hill hunts (and none kills deer because the deer are eating “medicine.” ;> Most people up here love living among wildlife. Sometimes the fact that my family hunts can be the cause of few raised eyebrows even.)

Ernie's Place
Guest
15 years ago

You are right, I’m probably wrong, and it has nothing to do with the “Medicine“, but when we first moved to Benbow, we had an average of thirty five deer on the grass in front of our house.
Back in the late eighties we had a person up on the hill shooting deer and leaving them lay. It was probably just kids, or a deranged individual. The game Wardens theory was that it was the growers on the hill. Later that summer they had a massive raid on the growers in Benbow. They even used the golf course for the helicopter L.Z.

Only about seven deer came back after that. It has a lot to do with dogs that are allowed to run loose and chase deer. For some reason everybody that moves to the country gets a dog and lets it run free. No Matter how sweet the dog is, they will chase deer. Whatever the reason that the deer have disappeared they are still gone. Another theory is that it had something to do with Blue-tongue disease. (you could look it up)

Fortunately deer are in no danger of becoming extinct at this point, but I find it strange that the same people that are hugging the Redwoods, that grow like weeds around here, aren’t even remotely concerned about the deer. What’s up with that? It hurts my brain trying to fit into the same line of reasoning. Nature is Nature. The environment is a system, not a redwood tree.

I was raised on deer meat and I still love it, but I haven’t hunted in years. It just seems like shooting the “last deer”.

End of rant. Curmudgeonly yours, Ernie

Ernie's Place
Guest
15 years ago

P.S. Kym I love that photo. Do you sell any suitable for framing?

forkboy
Guest
15 years ago

I’m telling you Kym….Flickr. Or SmugMug. Or something. I think all of us would very much love to see your pictures larger so that we enjoy them even more.

Elizabeth
Guest
Elizabeth
15 years ago

he posed so beautifully

mjean1
Guest
mjean1
15 years ago

I can tell you where the deer have gone – they live just outside our property fence in a thicket of wild broom and Himalaya berries. They sleep right next to the garden fence and just as the veggies begin to ripen, they arrive for family reunions right in the middle of my corn patch.

tj
Guest
tj
15 years ago

Great photo again Kym. I wonder about the deer too. I can remember huge herds when I was a teen and in those days Mark’s dad would bring up a group of guys to hunt and they would take home up to a dozen bucks. Now we allow a couple to be harvested each year and yet there is still so many less. I wonder if there was a disease or something. There does seem to be more on your side of the creek than ours, I figure that is because there is more grass, since the cows are keepng ours clipped pretty short. Perhaps that is part of the problem.

Indie
Guest
15 years ago

Such glorious lighting and such a majestic pose from the “stag”!

Heather
Guest
15 years ago

That is a magnificent photo, Kym. I can picture it, HUGE, at Aunt Margie’s house. No?

Kato
Guest
Kato
15 years ago

Max nailed it with the fairy tale reference. That shot is magical, just like it is.

I have a theory to throw out there regarding the apparent drop in the deer population: I’ve heard of more mountain lion sightings in the last couple of years than I have in a long time, including a mother with THREE cubs (kittens?)! The ranchers used to “control” their populations, but as you said, not that many of our neighbors hunt or raise livestock any more, so cougars have been pretty much left to themselves and maybe their numbers are up, too.

Or maybe those tree-sitters got the message from Ernie and started strapping themselves to the deer, who are now immobilized from the weight…

Staff
Member
15 years ago

We seem to have plenty of deer just not big herds–lots of different small groups.

I like the photo but it isn’t the best. Thanks for your compliments.

Forkboy though, I can’t add one more Myspace, Fliker, Twitter, Bebo—My brain spins thinking about trying to remember one more password. Besides, there are a lot of good people there and I would be a frog egg among gigantic golden carp;>

Heather
Guest
15 years ago

“…and I would be a frog egg among gigantic golden carp”

Okay, Kym, here it is: You have a talent. You are not only an athlete, you are an artist. Though not seen thru your own eyes, your photos are beautiful and captivating, and your family aren’t the only ones saying so. Self deprecation is humorous to a point, but it’s time to throw off the shroud of self-doubt and shout to the world, “I am an athlete. I am an artist! Here is the product of my talent!” We all gotta start somewhere, and you have jumped into photography with both feet, and the rest of us have discovered that you are Michael Phelps – or at least Mark Spitz.

If the thought of remembering another password rattles your brain, you should have Middle One manage your photos (if you think he’s up to it) or any other of your family would be happy to, I’m sure – including me! 😀

p.s. I write my passwords down in an address book, like your mom does 😀

silverstar98121
Guest
15 years ago

Ummm, what Heather said. You can also do what I do, and that’s use the same password with variations for all sites. Sometimes I start with numbers, sometimes letters, but always the same rather obscure Gaelic word. Sometimes I break it into two and put the numbers in the middle. Of course, since I’m the only one using the computer, I just have the computer remember most of the time. The one password I kept forgetting, I finally wrote on a post-it note widget on my sidebar. I know, I’m bad. But you could sell your pictures, really.
Now, as to the deer, don’t everybody get your panties in a bunch. Where there are large herds of deer, they eat down the understory of the forests, and don’t allow it to renew. It sounds like there were too many before, and now there are just enough. That could be from the dogs or the mountain lions, but it’s a good thing. A good book on predator dynamics is Where the Wild Things Were by William Stolzenburg. Deer are cute, and beautiful, and tasty, but when there are too many of them, they cause a lot of ecological damage.

naturemyway
Guest
15 years ago

The first thing I thought was the scene from “Bambi”, when we see his daddy up on top of the hill shrouded in mists…very magical. A very special shot Kym.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
15 years ago

well, kym. yet another awesome photo! look stop torturing us, give us a sohum calender of your best. digital quality jigsaw puzzles, prints…!

tj
Guest
tj
15 years ago

I have been thinking on the deer population for the last week and of course I have been seeing more and more! LOL. I do think that it is probably predators that have brought down their numbers. We’ve seen many lions and deer is thier primary food source.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I’m not ready yet. Maybe someday.

Tj and Silverstar, I think there are plenty of deer. I’ll keep paying attention though. I would hate to have harm come to such a special part of our ecosystem.