This morning when I was out for a group run at Afton State Park, I came across some deer on the trail. This isn’t unexpected, as you’ll often find deer wandering around the park in the morning. What was a little funny was how close the deer let me get.

As I approached on the trail the younger deer got a little skittish, but the mom just stood there looking at me and sniffing. She may have caught a whiff of the food I had just eaten, as the leftover package was sitting in my vest. As I moved slowly forward they moved off the trail and bounded up the hill to the right. It’s a very steep climb, but as they have four legs they managed it just fine.

The mom then just stood there and watched as I walked past. I stopped right under her, and she looked at me as if to say, “I know your puny two legs won’t get you up here.” And at this point in the run, they certainly wouldn’t. But the fact that she stood still meant I could get a nice picture of her while she watched me.