I'm sitting by my writing office window trying to find the next node to write when I hear gunfire. Rapid gunfire, as though several people are shooting shotguns at something or each other.

And then I see the reason for all of the racket. Three mule deer running from my neighbor's property to pause at my five acres. I'm not sure they can see me, but there's a buck and two does. He's pretty young, probably a five or six pointer. His girlfriends are far more skittish.

Mule deer are so named because they have those big stiff ears like mules. Their color is pretty uniform, mostly a drab brown with bits of white and black. Most of the time I see white-tailed deer in this area. These three mulies are pretty brawny, they've been eating well on someone's farm

The shotguns stop their percussion-driven song. There are lots of cattle still on my neighbor's farm, so they don't want to randomly shoot at anything moving around on four legs. The mule deer start to sniff around and find a trail down to the small pond on the corner of my acreage. They'll be safe for a while. My land is wrapped with purple "no hunting" signs and banners. Looks like these three have made it to safety for the night.

Iron Noder 2017

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