#97 In the studio: Wildlife reference con't . . .

During the rut, or mating season, the big bucks move into our herd.  The rut is over in our area but now and then a big buck will make an appearance.

Less than a mile up the river there is a herd of whitetail.  The whitetail and mule deer's range overlap on the eastern slope of the Rockies but they do not interbreed.

The whitetail deer's antlers branch from a single main beam while the muley's antlers fork as they grow.   Each spring, after mating season, a buck's antlers start to regrow almost immediately after the old antlers are shed. Shedding typically takes place in mid February, with variations occurring by locale.

Ten-point Whitetail buck

Ten-point Mule Deer

Mule deer buck by our frozen pond

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Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#81 Remarque: "Whitetail Head Study"

Whitetail Head Study
10"H 6"W 5"D

I am a conservationist and a hunter.  Hunting is an autumn ritual, a tradition, the way I was raised in rural Oklahoma.  Venison steaks and stew meat, chops, roasts and tenderloin will be nourishment for body and soul during the long months between seasons.

In the fall I become a player; no longer just an observer I become an integral part of nature.

When we eat, something has died.  

When we hunt, we strive to retain some 

measure of connection with the earth 

whence we came and to which we 

inexorably return.  To hunt is to embrace 

one's identity as a creature.

                                                            ___ C. Stanley Mason

                                                                   "Voices on the Wind"