A couple of evenings ago I noticed a few deer running down from the hills. This is a real event here because the deer are totally wild and wary of any human encounters – they are hunted here during the hunting season, unlike those around Shannon’s town. You can see lots about deer in Shannon’s blog “Chipper’s Alley“. I grabbed the camera and ran to the upstairs window.

Three deer crossing a field

There were three deer. Two of them were circling one another and playing in the snow, dashing here and there. The third hung back.

Two of the deer play in the snow

After jumping and generally horsing, or maybe I should say deering, around the two playful deer stopped and looked at one another. They moved closer.

Two deer together

Then, it seemed it was time to move on again, and all three made their way into the next set of trees and out of sight.

Three deer heading into the trees

Yesterday afternoon the sun came out and we went for a quick walk up the hill.

Snow in the Jura Foothills

Footprints made by critter in the Jura Snow

We saw lots of tracks, some clearly made by dogs, other that seemed to be made by deer and then this set, which we see very often. We’re guessing they’re made by a fox (we have seen a fox a few times near our place). Do you know what kind of tracks they are? I didn’t think to add something for reference of scale, but they’re a fairly small size.

We were the first ones to take the path up the hill, and it was so satisfying to trundle through pristine untrodden snow.

Jura Snow

I was wearing ski pants, leaving me at total liberty to lie down and roll in it! I always wanted to lay in a cloud… this is the next best thing. We had five inches of snow this morning and afterwards the sun came out even more gloriously than yesterday. The snow is so powdery and light that when we tried to make a snowman it wouldn’t adhere and we ended up with a very crumbly stalactite (oops, I actually mean) stalagmite.

We’re having loads of fun in the snow and the views are beautiful!

Related posts:

1. Snow On The Jura Mountains, France
2. Easter Weekend Snow In The Pays de Gex, France
3. A Evening Walk At La Col De La Faucille, Jura, France
4. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
5. Winter Weather in the Jura Foothills

Tags: deer, France, Jura, Pays de Gex, snow

Posted by DweezelJazz on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 15:28
in Beautiful Things To See, Fun.
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