[Leica] Deer and bears

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com)]

Enough about guns and just one last comment about white tailed deer.

In 2001 we visited our son-in-law, then deputy ambassador to Nepal. On 
a trek through the Himalayas my wife asked our guide why the 
rhododendrons looked like trees instead of large bushes. "It's simple," 
explained our guide. "Grazing animals eat the lower branches and leave 
only the tops to grow."

When we bought our house in the Hudson Valley 50 years ago, it was 
surrounded by bush like rhododendrons. We had to trim many of the 
branches to get light in the windows. Then the deer moved in. 
Rhododendron leaves are one of their favorite delicacies. They ate all 
of the lower foliage, then stood on their hind legs to consume whatever 
they could reach higher up. Now we too have rhododendron trees just 
like in Nepal.

This guy and his family are the culprits. This six point buck has a 
harem of five females with fawns that eat everything but concrete patio 
blocks.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Buck+in+yard.jpg.html

Black bears live in the wooded area nearby. Did I mention that we live 
right across the Hudson from Bear Mountain State Park? The bears might 
keep Bambi and his ilk in check. I snapped the pic with a P&S a winter 
ago then beat a hasty retreat. If the bears are successful we might 
have to import some of Jayanand's tigers to keep the bears in check. 
And so on.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Bears+in+next+door+woodlot.jpg.html

There is no pretense of quality in either of these photos. They are 
just record shots.

For this of you morbidly interested in what unrestrained weapons 
availability can do in a country other than the USA see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_royal_massacre
It happened when we were in Nepal.

Larry Z