A quiet scene, sort of

This weekend my family and I went to the Chicago Beer Society picnic. Patricia and I are not actually members, but for five bucks each and a dish of food, they let us hang out and have a few beers anyway.

The picnic was at a forest preserve close to where we live, so the convenience was nice. The area was a little flooded over because we had a lot of rain this week (Thank God there's no global warming, imagine what the rain would be like if there was!), but the standing water just makes the croquet game interesting.

Even more interesting is that the deer in this area can often be seen because they are pretty safe if they stick to the preserve area and don't go running out into the highway. Because of this, they don't bolt at the first sight of humans and I was lucky to get close to a couple yearlings and take a picture.

One of the things that I really admired about my father was his ability to get really close to wild animals. He grew up on a farm in Iowa and there was just something about his demeanor and the way he was with nature. He used to hunt as well, which is something that I don't do. I don't have anything against hunters and I know that the deer population often has to be culled, but I really just preferred my meat pre-killed. I hope that doesn't make me sound hypocritical, or at least not any more hypocritical than a vegetarian who wears leather Birkenstocks.

So I'm not kidding myself when I take pictures of deer when I get close to them. They know I'm near, but if I walk really slowly, I can get close enough for a few pictures. Though for some odd reason, as I'd get close, they would take a few steps away and I'd be looking at their rears.
Later, several more deer were close and I got a picture of a nice looking buck.

The best picture that I took that day goes without saying. A person could probably try for years and not get a shot like this.