Recreation Area Visits Around Saylorville Reservoir

I got the opportunity to do a little bit of leisure driving with Hubby on Friday.We ended up grabbing a couple of sandwiches from Quiznos and headed out to one of the recreation areas located around Saylorville Reservoir here in central Iowa, just north of Des Moines.

We pulled up to a shelter house to take our picnic plans to the next level... as we pulled up, getting ready to park, we saw a Whitetail doe with triplets tagging along behind. 

Hubby and I were in awe! 

Living in a timber we hadn't seen triplets traipsing around, or at least we didn't correlate they were womb mates. Today's event was evident, no mistaking they shared the same family tie.

The little family is straight back almost to the rear treeline.

The third fawn lagged further behind as the family moved from left to right disappearing once again into thick cover

The other side of the treeline takes you into someone's backyard. Housing developments have sprung up on the perimeters of the recreation areas - tucked among the trees. A great place to  find quiet solitude, even with a busy world humming all around.

On our day out we found shade and a slight breeze around noon , just before the day heated into the upper 80's.

Stop back soon! I will be sharing a couple of other parks we stopped to explore close to the lake and a few accesses to slip into the water...

Losing Their Spots

The twins are becoming "Spotless"
We have been blessed by another visit , it is fun to see  what has been lurking just off the beaten path. There have been brief moments of exposure when the  babies became anxious due to thunderstorms or home invasion by the humankind. They would come sprinting pell-mell out from cover only to dart back to hide again. So, when the twins came meandering out in front of their mother it was time to take notice and digitally record the event for future reference.

The far fawn appears to have some antler buds and his color brings back memories of previous generations. Forefront fawn was on the move having a nibble of grass-the camera caught a candid moment with it's tongue sticking out.

Mom is getting her Fall color

Little fawn went to nudge his mother; mom moved so what appeared to be an attempt to nurse didn't happen.

I am truly impressed at the physical rebound the deer have made with the plentiful Summer grazing. Our winters have been brutal and nutritionally challenging the last couple of years. I will have to keep my eyes open for  smaller fawns too.  In the last couple years that there has been at least one extremely little fawn seen going into Fall and Winter. Certainly a wonder that it would be able to survive ,but I have watched them toddle along with the group, and found their hoof prints while out prowling around myself.

Sadie Sioux wasn't being hospitable, not wanting to share her space so she put that deer family on alert from her window post inside the house. It didn't take long for them to get the hint even though they weren't threatened directly.

In the evening I took my faithful shotgun rider to do some scouting and found a mature doe enjoying the bean field smorgasbord along a fence/treeline. You might be able to vaguely see the whitetail on alert headed in the opposite direction. ;)

My four pawed friend gets really excited when she sees Mom grabbing the camera - heading out the door in a hurry.She charges out in front alerting everything in our path.I can see right now that I will need to sneak off on my own to get any discreet deer sleuthing accomplished and teach Sadie to lower her voice in the presence of wildlife.

Good luck to all on your pre-season deer scouting...