Buck

Peering out my kitchen window the other day, I spotted this buck, resting on the ground. I thought that his behavior was unusual since he remained rather motionless. I was a little concerned. I took a couple of pictures, then left on a little hike. My plan was to call the Humane Society if the deer was still there when I got back. He wasn't and I didn't.

 

In case you are wondering about all the bare twigs in the picture, let me remind you that there were 600 goats roaming through the hills a few weeks ago, devouring everything that appeared even remotely green!

 

And now for a little bit of education and edification ~

 

The word "deer" was originally quite broad in meaning, but became more specific over time. In Middle English der (O.E. dēor) meant a wild animal of any kind (as opposed to cattle, which then meant any domestic livestock, from the idea of ownership and related to chattle and capital).^[1] This general sense gave way to the modern sense by the end of the Middle English period, around 1500. Cognates of English "deer" in several other languages still have the general sense of "animal" – for example German Tier, Dutch dier, and Scandinavian djur, dyr, dýr. "Deer" is the same in the plural as in the singular.