The Old Doe

Posted byGary FultzPosted inabundant life, accomplishment, accountability, animals in winter, Build Faith, cold, deadly spiritual perspective, deception, devotional, devotional thoughts, end of life, eternal, Faith, Fear, Gary Fultz, Gary Fultz Blog, goals, God in Nature, Inner Peace, intentional, listening to God, Nature, outdoor spiritual truths, Peace, perspective, Planning, purpose in life, purpose of life, relationship building, relationship with God, spiritual adventure, spiritual deception, spiritual goals, Spiritual Perspective, story telling., walk with God, Winter prepared

She is old. She won’t make it through another Minnesota winter. Shunned in the deer world so she keeps to herself and decided humans are better. She follows me around the yard hoping for a hand out and a few words to perk her ears up. She doesn’t show signs of having CWD as the local Department of Natural resources has assured me from pictures. They asked me to watch her but not feed her. I sin frequently as do a couple neighbors.

Social distancing at six feet away from humans…sometimes

Last weekend our group of deer hunters gathered in the yard before daylight as we all hope to harvest a deer or two for the freezer. The old doe walked into the middle of the group. I should have warned them. One of the nephews commented “somethings really wrong with this picture” as he tried to pet her.

Life is full of ironies. The old doe has become as innocent as a newborn. Her instincts of flight and danger are gone which suggests some type of disease which will kill her either directly or by car, wolf, coyote, slowly this winter or any number of possibilities. No matter, it’s straight forward. She will die. So will we.

Lessons from the old doe. One: don’t live in fear (however that translates in your case) because life is short. Two: lets take better care of our neighbors, than we do the old doe. They need us, we need them. Three: don’t worry about what the rest of the herd thinks. Shut off the news feed. Do what we were created to do. Figure out how you should Love God and love people. Eternal things are the most essential

“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing(which was dangerous back then), but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see The Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

Gary

Published by Gary Fultz

Outdoors Man, Hunter, Fisherman, Guide, Writer / Author, Photographer, Public Speaker, Musician, Song Writer, Story Teller, Follower Of Jesus. Love God and family and total strangers

62 thoughts on “The Old Doe”

  6. Priceless! Wish I could have been there when she walked into the midst of the hunters. This year I’m only going for a mature buck. Because of my weakness from the cancer/chemo I couldn’t pull my bow back this season, so I have to settle for rifle season. I’ve never liked shooting does and have only done so when the freezer is empty . . .
    Take care Gary, Ron
    P.S. Hope my comment isn’t insensitive to non-hunters . . .

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    1. I don’t really know many non-hunters because of our farm and woods culture I have always lived in. We all grew up growing a garden and all kinds of animals for food, butchered them ourselves and learned all about anatomy and biology and how to cook wild game. I thought PETA was an acrostic for people eating tasty animals. Seriously.
      There, now I was the insensitive one. And, yes, I got my buck for the freezer.

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  8. Amen, Gary. You always tell good stories with Biblical life applications. I wonder if the old doe knows her time is short? I’m glad brought her to your GPS location. God speaks to us in so many ways. Blessings.

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    1. Deer are pretty simple David. I’ve never seen a deer or a dog or any animal admire a sunset. They take life moment by moment. We could learn some things from a deer’s approach to maximize every moment. We have watched wolves take a deer down and the rest of the deer flee a short ways away and start browsing as if nothing happened. They just reset and go on. A fawn will hang around for awhile after losing their mother and source of food, but they seem to adjust unless too young. In many ways it solidifies the fact that we are made in the image of God and not animals.

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    1. Thanks for your vote Laurette, I can’t hep but root for the old gal. She has a fawn that was born early spring and is already self sufficient and healthy. Just a handful of grain now and then has made a difference so far. We don’t leave any doors open though.

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  13. I love your everyday life stories, especially how you extract a spiritual lesson or truth from them. Today this line stands out, “Eternal things are the most essential.” If we live with that in mind, oh what a better perspective of life!

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  14. So true Manette. Gaining God’s perspective in our world is like weeding the garden daily so the carrots not only stand out but they grow. Otherwise it’s hard to keep eternal things in view.

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  16. Beautiful analogy. Thank you, Gary. I have such a heart for old animals. If I was able bodied I’d open a sanctuary for older dogs and cats that have been discarded by society. They are so wise. I’m glad you’re taking care of the old doe.

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    1. Thanks, and, I believe you would do that Terri. A sad part of this story is that the old doe visits my aunts place nearby and puts her feet on the window sill to see her inside. My Aunt talks to her a lot as she is suffering memory loss. I think the old doe has memory loss as well…they seem to be in the same boat of life. As the weather gets tougher, the old doe cannot handle that but she is still very wild so taking her in wouldn’t work no matter what we did. Like humans with God the wild in us separates us from His shelter, safety and any relationship beyond wanting handouts.

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  19. She is still around, getting skinnier without working on the brush ends and willow buds as much as needed. She made friends with our grand kids who want to take her home. Life is kind of pure survival in nature. Ya, we need higher garden fences as well.

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  20. Gary,
    What a gift to come upon this story this morning. May my own heart, that now contains the love I feel for that doe, be open to all those I have the opportunity to reach, to touch today. God touches and nudges us in the tenderest of ways, doesn’t He?
    May His blessings continue to fall on you richly and be multiplied many times over!
    Thank you,
    Deb

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  21. Thanks Deb. I complained to the Lord a little bit as He seems to be using the old doe in peoples lives more than me.
    Some carolers came last week and the old doe joined their little semi circle in the dark outside and scared the sing out of their song. I have told them her story and the spiritual analogies keep coming. She just walked up to the deck this morning checking on us. Her story continues with our grandkids who have met her now. I ask to hear from God and he sends a doe…??

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    1. Thank You Stephanie. She is still around scaring visitors by following them around the yard. She might actually make it awhile and possibly through the mild winter we are having.

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  24. I hope she makes it as well. She greeted me this evening as I climbed out of the ATV from fishing our nearby lake. She is very old though. She likes it when people talk to her. I think it’s disarming.
    I’ve heard of dogs befriending different animals. That must have been interesting to watch.

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  25. She’s a sweet friend for this moment in time. It’s wonderful. Animals are wonderful. I had a collie named Scot who played with a wild deer one day when he got off his leash when we were taking a walk. The deer would jump over a fence away from him, then jump back so they could chase one another. He also made friends with a feral cat. When I moved from Texas to Alabama, I trapped the cat and took it with us. She would never make friends with people – but she loved her Scot. She was heartbroken when he died. Scot would walk around the neighborhood in Montgomery and cats we didn’t even know would come up to greet him. A couple of them followed him part of the way home! When we found a bird that fell out of the nest and saved it, Scot would run through the house to get me when the bird needed to be fed! Animals are a gift to us from God. Hugs to your sweet, old friend.

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  26. Awe so glad I found this post! I wondered the background story on the old doe…I’ll have to share this one with my husband, he’s a lover of Jesus …and hunting …but he could respect a warm-hearted scene like this one.❤️

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      1. Yes definitely! That’s crazy!!…He, one deer season, went to set up his hunting gig near a pile of hay bales and ended up with an extra visitor…a rattle snake!!! While there was snow on the ground! Needless to say he shot more than just a buck that year!!

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  28. Love this. We have had a doe by our pond and barn all summer. My husband said she had a baby or two bedded down in our back pasture. Last week, I saw a doe and two babies in my neighbor’s yard. Yesterday, the same neighbor videoed 9 young ones playing in their backyard, which is next to my pasture. Your picture of this doe is amazing. Nature is a wonderful thing.

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    1. yes, and nature is so much more complex than most people can imagine until they spend a whole lot of time out there. The old doe would come up to people about six feet away, no closer until my second oldest grand daughter stood on the deck steps and was nuzzled by the deer. It seemed to think she had an apple or something in her pocket (she didn’t) but didn’t want to be petted.
      The old doe made it through most of last winter until we had -30 for almost three weeks, then she disappeared. Most likely the wolves had saved her for when they were really hungry. Sometimes they will go after the strong deer first and the weak deer later in the winter which goes against what many people would like to think about wolves.

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      1. Whoa, I’ve never seen a deer so close. Funny about the nuzzling and apple. Wonder if someone else had fed her… that’s interesting about the wolves. Makes sense. In the really cold, they’re energy levels are probably a lot lower, so weak at that time makes sense. Never really thought much about the life cycles in nature until I saw a documentary on wild turkeys. And, -30? Whew that sounds too cold! 🙂

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  29. Good morning, Gary. Thanks for reading my latest. I started scrolling through your posts looking for one I hadn’t read and came upon this. There is a great lesson here, especially considering what has happened since. I wonder what became of the old doe. So many parallels with our society. Blessings to you today. The Lord’s got everything covered.

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    1. I suspect the old doe was taken by wolves (as a big pack moved in and took several deer as close as 100 yards from the house) or the -30 to -40 nights for 3 weeks were too cold for her as she had no reserve fat on her. She just disappeared.
      Your are right RJ.
      Yes, lots of parallels to our current society. Our culture and land is now sick and our reserves are diminished by evil leadership. The wolves among us are multiplying rapidly. Ironically, wolves will begin tearing each other apart when the food runs out, in nature as well as in society.

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  30. You are blessed to live on the edge of the wilderness. I didn’t know that about wolves. Can you add some more to this? It is interesting in that I’m pretty sure I know how this is going to end.

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  31. Wolves are a phenomenal predator. They run in packs but also spend time alone or in pairs. As a pack they will on occasion kill for fun (documented even though it’s not something most people don’t want to believe) and leave deer or elk to rot. They will sometimes go after the strongest deer and save the weak for later when the winter gets really tough (this goes against common thought as well). A big timber (gray) wolf has the power to crush the thigh bone of a moose. They are fearless. When wolves meet other wolves, they usually have to establish who is boss and who is the leader. two packs meeting up may dispute to whom the woods belongs and may kill each other over territory. The leader of a pack will drive out young wolves to go it alone if there is a possibility their leadership will be challenged or they will kill them if challenged. There is a lot of nice false narrative about wolves including (especially) movies where most people have their thoughts on wolves given to them.

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  32. Thanks Gary. You’re a storehouse of information. It’s not that I cannot research this but what you said earlier struck a chord. Going to you from that point saves me from having to go through the usual hunt and find, throwing out the bad fish, etc. This fact, though, that a pack of wolves, a “family,” will turn on and destroy each other if it comes to that is fascinating. Yes, you have painted a not so great picture of real wolf activity. They are great animals and highly necessary but not always so noble.

    “Ironically, wolves will begin tearing each other apart when the food runs out, in nature as well as in society.”

    This is exactly what happened in Judea/Jerusalem in 66-70AD. I’ve read the historical accounts, mostly from Josephus. It’s what happens when one’s only salvation is eliminated from the equation. I see a clear parallel to the present.

    Later

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