Deer Mr. Moose, is there even such a word?....

I need to tell this story before I forget. It happened last Friday evening, as I was turning into Greenbrook Park off of Clinton Avenue. It was dusk. There were about eight deer grazing next to the Green Brook. They simultaniously raised their heads and looked at me as if to say, "What the heck is a human doing running through here?" One of the does started jogging towards me. It was kinda creepy. I thought she was going to charge me or something, as I was running parallel to the brook, passing the staring animals. I was looking to see if there were any horns, thinking a buck would be more apt to be aggressive, I reasoned.

Well, the doe didn't charge, but she took my line and jogged behind me at about 30 yards or so, and the other deer, all does I think, followed in a line. They followed me for about another 100 yards, then veered off to head towards the park road.

I remembered to tell this story because some people were talking about deer hunting after the run at Doll's tonight. I was saying that I killed two deer with my motor vehicles. Then I told them about the deer following me, and John E. said he was charged by a deer on the towpath. He claims deer can be mean. Deer mean creatures? Hmm. Then he was asking if I ever encountered a moose, meaning with my car. No, I said, but I have when hiking in New Hampshire. I was trying to get close to take a picture while the moose was laying down, chewing cud. When I got within 10 yards, the 8 foot moose stood. That was it - I backed away slowly.

"And if you ever watched Rocky and Bullwinkle, you believe moose are dumb," said I. "It is like reverse anthropomorphism."