Oh Deer...

A couple of weeks ago, J & I attended a mardi gras ball at Grandview Winery and were pleasantly surprised to see 2 huge fields filled with deer (approximately 200 of them by J's count). It was an amazing sight and of course the only camera I had with was the mini purse one which didn't take low light photos well. So this past Sunday we decided to take a wildlife drive along the Minnesota River bottom and see if we could spot the deer once again. We started along the river about 12 miles east of the fields and spotted 3 huge flocks of wild turkeys along the way. All of them were first seen along the road but but the time we arrived upon them they were in the woods so I didn't get good shots. On the drive we also spotted several deer in the woods and a few in an open field. I love the deer track patterns in the field in this photo.



Arriving at the field around 4:45 pm we saw only a dozen or so deer it was a bit too early.



We then drove to the second field and on this day there were no deer present so J had the idea we waste some time by going to the winery for a glass of wine and bathroom break. By the time we left it was around 5:45 and the sun was almost setting, I managed to get a few golden light shots before it completely set.

At the winery we learned that this field was a sugar beet field and the deer are eating pieces of beets and greens leftover from the harvest. The first time we visited a few weeks ago there wasn't as much snow and now the deer are having to dig to find the food.



Soon more and more deer started to arrive...
 

and it got darker with a glorious pink sky!
 

While I took photos, J used his binoculars and started counting. He said there are 121 deer in these last photos. What a wonderful day/evening it was...is it strange that our idea of an ideal date is going to look for wildlife with a glass of wine thrown in?