I was very happy to find about a dozen and a half White-tailed Deer to photograph on my last visit to Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week on a bright sunny morning.

Two White-tailed Deer bucks in velvet at Tishomingo NWR, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, Johnston County, OklahomaTwo White-tailed Deer bucks in velvet at Tishomingo NWR – Nikon D500, f9, 1/400, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

These two buck White-tailed Deer stood out in a field of wildflowers. Their antlers have begun to grow for the fall rut and those antlers are still in velvet. I’ve never touched deer antlers when they are covered in velvet but I imagine they are probably soft to touch.

In Utah we only had Mule Deer so seeing White-tailed Deer again is a treat for me. To my eyes, White-tailed Deer look daintier than the Mule Deer I was used to seeing out West.

I photographed some of the other deer in this mixed herd of does and bucks and when I get the chance to tell the story behind them, I’ll do that. It is a little unusual at this time of the year, from what I understand, to see the does mixing in with the bucks.

I loved that the deer were all in a field of mixed wildflowers. Some of the wildflowers have finished flowering but I can see some dayflowers and Blackeyed Susans still blooming. Wild Blackeyed Susans are flowers I haven’t seen in bloom for a while either!

The buck white-tail on the left appears to be more stocky than the buck on the right. Maybe that is an age difference. I’m not certain.

The weather is going to be bad here for the rest of this week with clouds, rain, thunder, lightning and possible hail rolling in from one storm after another. I have plenty of photos to go through from my recent trip up to Tishomingo though, so I will stay busy editing and sharing images from the refuge.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my White-tailed Deer photos plus facts and information about this species.