Here you see a saucy white-tailed deer posing on Valentine’s Day. She appears to be in beautiful shape, as do all of “our” white-tails, which seem to be thriving this year, despite some very nasty weather.
I suspect that their highly-insulated and water-resistant winter coats are the primary reason for their good health. Another reason may have been that our summer and fall grass crops seemed to have been particularly good this season for the deer to binge on and build up the fat that they need to store for winter. More Valentine’s Day visitors are shown below.
Their activity also diminished in winter, as usual. During the worst of our recent weather, the 15 or 20 does that are “regulars” did not make their rounds across our property for about two days. They apparently bedded down deeply within the woods and didn’t move.
On sunny days this month, we’ve also seen members of the local white-tail sorority keeping their metabolic rate low by bedding down in groups of up to five in fields and basking, sometimes for more than an hour. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on February 14, 2023.)