Larry D Brown

White-tailed buck photos made 12-25-12.

There is no need to feel sorry for white-tailed deer in cold, snowy weather. The hollow hairs in their winter coats insulate so well that not enough heat escapes their bodies to melt snow falling on them.

White-tailed doe photos made 2-12-2013.

Yucca plants photographed 2-20-2013.

Buttonbush leaf and seed-pod and the preceding six photos made on 2-21-2013.

This and the following photos made on 2-22-2013.

White-tailed bucks photographed in Boiling Springs State Park, Oklahoma from November 10 through December 6, 2011.

November 10th, the rut or breeding season is just beginning. Notice this buck doesn’t yet have the swollen neck which bucks have during the rut.

Early morning light adds a beautiful warmth to the color in this image. The frost on the grass in the shaded foreground has not yet melted.

This one has a nice symmetrical 10-point rack.

The center of interest

During the rut, bucks are active night and day and get very little rest.

Ouch! This one has gotten too close to a porcupine. Note the five quills stuck to the left side of his face. Believe it or not, porcupines are not unusual in northwestern Oklahoma.

A light snow has blanketed the park on the morning of December 6, 2011 and the rut is almost over for another year.

As deer antlers grow, they are covered by a fuzzy skin called velvet.

Growing almost half an inch a day, they are some of the fastest growing tissue in the animal kingdom.

Antlers continue to grow through August or September and the velvet is then shed before the rut begins.

Boiling Springs State Park is home to a new generation of white-tailed deer each summer. The summer of 2011 has been extremely hot and dry and has affected the condition of some of the deer.  The does especially seem a little more skinny than usual, having an extra or (usually) two extra mouths to feed. They also spend less time in the open and disappear into the shade of the woods sooner as the heat rises earlier than in cooler years.

The fawns’ big ears help to keep them cool by radiating heat from the blood flowing through their ears.

This doe is giving her fawn a licking.

This fawn has it’s ears on the alert.

A doe feeding with her fawns.

Fawns exploring in the early morning light.

All images on this site are © copyrighted by Larry D. Brown and may not be reproduced in any manner without permission.

Dark-eyed junco searching for seeds

White-tailed Does

White-tailed doe after digging in snow

Northern Flicker (Yellow Shafted)

Wild Turkey

Mallard Drake