Deer Gangs

The deer in Moran State Park, and indeed all of Orcas Island, are very well behaved. As I drove the roads, they stayed on the side of the road. Rarely did they walk in front of my car or stand dumb-founded as my car approached.

Not like the deer in the Methow Valley. There’s something wrong with those deer.

As you drive along highway 20 from the North Cascades, you will see a sign that gives the number of deer killed in car collisions. Some years it’s a very high number.

I’ve wondered as I’ve driven past that sign, “wouldn’t all the dumb deer be killed by now?” With the high deaths of deer deaths of dumb deer meandering in the middle of the road (I’ve seen them do that along the highway). At some point, only the smart deer who know how to stay off the road would survive and teach their young to do the same. One would think, right?

A few years ago I found the answer – Deer Gangs. Adolescent deer hang out together by the side of the road daring each other to walk in front of cars.

Now hear me out.

A few years ago I was spending some time in the Methow. A few friends and I rented a cabin where you turned off the main road near a blind curve. And it was a blind curve, not only did it turned but as it turned it dropped down a hill.

One evening as I was headed back to the cabin, I slowed down to turn onto the dirt road when I noticed a group of deer hanging out in the blind of the curve. One started into the road as I came near but then backed away and went back to the small group of deer. It was if they were daring each other to walk in front of cars.

“Hey Jeff. Here comes a car. Walk out there and see what happens to this one.”

I could almost see cigarette butts hanging from their mouths and tattoos on their arms.

Not the Moran deer. They were more like “How do you do? I’m sure you’ll enjoy the view from the top. We certainly do. Carry on.”

The Moran deer were far more courteous.

A Natural Setting

Early Winters Creek, 3/7/09, 1 mile

On a recent trip to Winthrop with our friends Dave & Heather to photograph the balloonfest, we arranged a trip with a local naturalist along the Early Winters Creek near Mazama.

He showed us several types of plant life that sometimes goes un-noticed in the summer and is usually covered during the winter. Marten tracks could be seen hopping through the snow. We also followed some coyote tracks to a fresh (within the day) kill site.

He also gave us a nice lecture on the arrogance of man in trying to "correct" nature - the creek had been straightened out long ago with the thought that is would ease flooding. What was neglected was that the turns, eddies, and dams are needed for a healthy stream and healthy stream-life. To correct the correction new dams and log jams were built. More work than really needed to be done. If only we could learn to live with the cycles of nature, maybe we wouldn't need to "correct" nature at all.

Running around with a well-educated naturalist can be truly eye-opening.

Washington's Yosemite

Methow Valley Exploration 10/10/08-10/13/08

Normally, Michael and I take our vacation the week prior to Columbus Day. We load up the car and set out to explore the western US and Canada, but not this year. Instead we took a week to finish off the Wonderland Trail. So when my travel bug hit just as the calendar rolled from Sept to Oct we set off to explore a portion of Washington we had only driven through and always wanted to see more of - The Methow Valley.

Friends had been telling me for years the wonders of the Methow and I believed them. I just never got a chance to hike or ski or camp in this marvelous place. Michael was so excited to get going that the car was packed by the time I got home Friday night and we decided to drive all night until we reached Winthrop. Luckily, Pearrygin State Park was still open and we set up camp in the moonlight along the banks of the lake. Although we didn't get to sleep until well after 1am, I was up at sunrise to catch the 1st glimmer of the day on the lake.

For the rest of the 3 day weekend, we drove along forest roads to scenic viewpoints and trails to be noted at a later date. We drove through stands of burned out trees from the 30-mile fire and stopped by the memorial honoring the fire fighters who tragically died fighting the blaze. We watched as hunters drove past looking for deer and then deer walk across the road as they passed. Above all, we admired the land of the Methow and Chewuch rivers.