White-Tailed DeerWhite-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) AKA Virginia Deer and Whitetail
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White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - Page 3
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White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 73
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 73)  Our parting thought, before the deer entered the woods, was that God would bring an end to the pain and suffering in this world, and that we humans would help and no longer be the perpetrators of so much of the world's evil.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 74
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 74)  As we were walking along the road, Mary spotted this young white-tailed deer in the brush.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 75
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 75)  Slowly, we continued along the road and took another photo.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 76
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 76)  As we started to cross the road toward the deer, we took this photo.  There was no sign of fright.  We were curiously enjoying the company of one another.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 77
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 77)  We were now only about twenty-five feet away from this gentle living soul.  At times like this it's hard not to think about how extremely cowardly hunters have to be in order to kill a deer from ambush.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 78
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 78)  Looking into the face and eyes of a "wild" white-tailed deer, as we are doing here, is like having a glimpse back into Eden or into Isaiah's prophecy of the Peaceable Kingdom (Isaiah 11:6-9), where no one will hurt or destroy because we will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 79
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 79)  We were so close to this white-tailed deer that we could see the individual hairs in her ears, and we thanked God for this meeting.  To hunt and kill such a beautiful being must be a form of cursing God.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 80
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 80)  She cocked her left ear toward a car that was coming up the road behind us, so we walked a little farther on to the shoulder of the road.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 81
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 81)  As we walked a little farther up the side of the road, she turned sideways behind the brush.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 82
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 82) If only the world could learn to live in the peace of this moment!
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 83
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 83) We said our good-byes, and our white-tailed deer friend slowly went off to continue browsing for food.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 84
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 84) This is our parting photo of our white-tailed deer friend.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 85
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 85) While walking along the road, we spotted this white-tailed deer walking through this clearing.  We said, "Hello!", and she stopped to return the greeting.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 86
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 86) Then she resumed her journey.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 87
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 87) As she continued to walk away, we prayed for God to protect her and her sibling.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 88
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 88) As we parted company, we thanked God for this peaceful encounter.  We had truly received a blessing: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God". (Matthew 5:9)
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 89
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 89) We spotted these white-tailed deer resting and browsing while we were walking to get our mail.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 89a
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 89a)  This is a closer look at two of the white-tailed deer.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 90
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 90) The deer closest to us looked at us with no sense of danger.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 91
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 91) After looking at us for a few moments, she went back to eating.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 92
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 92) The deer would alternate between browsing and watching us take their pictures. We simply don't understand how someone can see these gentle souls of God and still desire to kill them.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 95
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 95)  Deer blend very well into their surroundings.  See if you can spot the 4 deer in this photo: 2 youngsters and their mothers.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 99
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 99)  After we said "Good-Bye" to each other, the deer slowly turned and began walking away.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 100
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 100)  We took this last photo of the deer and then continued on our walk.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 101
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 101)  In early April 2005, as we were returning from our three mile walk to pick up our mail, these two white-tailed deer walked across the road in front of us and began browsing in a wooded clearing about 30 feet away from us.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 101a
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 101a)  This is a closer look at the two deer.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 102
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 102)  These two white-tailed deer were very well aware of our presence, as they continued to browse for something to eat.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 103
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 103)  We had to stop and change the batteries in our camera, and one of the white-tailed deer seemed to become fascinated with what we were doing.  When we finished, we took this photo of the pair.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 104
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 104)  Then the other deer began looking at us.  These innocent animals show no signs of fear; they just seem to be as interested in us as we are in them.  It is this innocence that takes the term "sport" away from "hunting", and calls it what is really is: "Murder".
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 105
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 105)  On 2 April 2006, at about 5:00 in the afternoon, we were walking back from picking up our mail from the mail room, which is about 1.5 miles from our home, when we saw a white-tailed deer walk across the road about 100 yards ahead of us.  We continued walking and realized that she had stopped about 10 feet off the shoulder of the road and was watching us walking toward her.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 106
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 106)  The white-tailed deer didn't move as we got closer.  We could sense that she seemed to have no fear of us, but had a fear of most human beings.  This emotional conflict seemed to make her keep her distance of about 15 feet from us.  We even began talking to her, and thanked her for allowing us take these photos.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 107
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 107)  Some people envision having "encounters of the third kind" with a being from another world, but we have the most wonderful experiences meeting members of other species on this planet.  Our "peaceable kingdom" encounter with this white-tailed deer is just one of them.
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 108
(White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) - 108)  We loved the curious look on her face as she lowered her head and sniffed the air.  We didn't smell like most other humans.  We smelled like fellow vegetarians.

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Lamb - Right Lamb - Left Presented here are just a few of the countless components of God's creation.  Just as we cannot have human and animal life without water and plants, neither can we have lasting peace without love and compassion.  It is our hope and prayer that this series will motivate people to live and act in a cruelty-free manner; that we would no longer hurt or destroy each other, the animals or our environment.