The Other Side of Wild!

.....continued from A Walk On The Wild Side!

Often, this was the view I had when trying to shoot the images of the deer. They were extremely skittish and so I was shooting from long distances beyond my lens and camera capability.

There was a larger group of deer on the other side of the tree to the left.

This was the more usual view, a full speed run! Look at the deer on the far right and the way her neck is stretched out flat—that's because these deer go under the fence rather than over.

There were eagles' nests every where you looked. They were in the oaks, the pines, in dead trees and in live ones! We startled a couple of eagles out of nearby trees, but none were actually sitting on a nest and there were no fledglings to be seen either. I suspect it was the wrong time of year.

If you enlarge the image to the right, you'll see a red triangle/arrow pointing down at what is left of a deer's back leg. Our guide told us that when they first spotted it, you could also see the deer's rib cage, spine and more of the back hindquarter! Can you imagine a bird large enough to pick up and cart a deer's hindquarter, spine and rib cage up to a nest 40-50 feet in the air?!!! That's a huge bird, not to mention strong!

This is one of the mighty birds taking a rest. Unfortunately, the moss was quite thick and this was the closest I could get to him/her. You take the shot you can!

These guys were quite shy too. (Sensing a theme yet?!) Enlarge the image to take a look at the horns on the fawn colored ram. Something else to note is how thin their legs are when you consider they LOVE to climb! It is not unusual to see the rams and goats up in trees or on top of anything they can climb up on!

I have so many shots that are just blurs or a peek of ears or the tip of tail as the animal disappeared from sight, but it was an incredible morning spent out in some of Florida's untamed wilderness. There were also two different areas with indian mounds from two different settlements of Seminole Indians as well as an old homestead and cemetery of six graves.

Something else we were able to see was an old dip bath (a long concrete pool about 6 feet deep and 20 feet long) built by the state back in the 30's to eradicate a tick disease that was killing the cattle. The cattle were driven up to one end and forced to jump in. They would swim through the pesticide to the other end where there were "stairs" so they could climb out.

An incredible visit with the past! I hope to return. If I do, you can be sure, I'll share the photos!