THE BUCKS STOP HERE!

A week or so ago, while sitting at my desk, I felt a sensation of being watched, looked out my riverview window, and saw a yearling buck standing in the small glade on the island directly across from the cottage. Then, three or for days later, I again felt the urge to check for watchers, glanced across the river, and again saw that same yearling buck standing in almost the exact same spot.

Only it wasn't the same deer. Looking closer, I realized there were two similar sized male whitetails, both of whom—for whatever reason—had felt compelled to pause in the same place, assume practically the same broadside stance, and gaze contemplatively my way. 

How do I know they're two different animals? Because the first one—the deer at the top of this post—is a buck with modest forks in his new, velvet-covered antlers. While the second deer sports only stubby spikes. In deer-hunter parlance, a forkhorn and a spikehorn.

Double click the images and compare for yourself.

The amazing thing to me is that both bucks choose to pause and look in my direction from the identical vantage point—standing almost in each other's hoofprints.

I guess the bucks really do stop there!