Twenty-six Mule Deer

My sweetheart, Lee, and I have a "gentleman's ranch" in Doyle, California.  A gentleman's ranch is about 40 acres or less.  We've got the 40 acres. About 2/3 of it burned last July, but the house and shop were saved.  Anyway, as I drove up to the turn off for the ranch, I saw some mule deer in their light, tan coats nibbling the new, spring growth.  They weren't in the least concerned that I was driving in, and only looked up and went back to eating.  Gandi, my six-year old Maltese, and I got out of the car, Lee came to meet us, and only then did the deer slowly begin to depart.  We were amazed to count twenty-six of them, many only six months old, trotting across the property to get to the hills above us.  They could jump a four-foot fence from a standing position, and when they got across the road to the barbed wire fence, some went over it, some crawled through it, and some were young enough and limber enough to crawl under the lowest wire.  What a joy to watch as they disappeared over the hill toward the setting sun.