Leg of deer

Well, somebody had a good dinner anyway, coyote or crows maybe, fox probably. We woke up the other morning to the sight of a deer leg on the lawn, upper half bare and stripped and gnawed, lower half still furry, with hoof intact.

Of course, we're not sure what a lone leg was doing in front of the house. Haven't seen hide nor hair of anything deer-like lately, definitely no carcass, and certainly nothing running around with only three legs left. Have seen a fox several times though, skulking about between the bank where it lives and the houses which it ignores, hence our theory that a deer has died in the woods behind the house and the fox and family somehow pried off a leg and carried it down closer to the water for a more pleasant alfresco dining experience.

You wouldn't see a stray leg in the city, that's all I have to say, unless of course it was human, on CSI. It shouldn't be startling to see red nature here, given all the wildlife close by, but our lives even here are pretty suburban and it's good to be intrigued again, if not a little frightened. The deer in question looked to be small, not that I'm any forensic expert, possibly a yearling from last spring, which somehow makes this more of a tragedy than any dismembered body simulation seen on TV. The death, probably cruel, of something so beautiful is a fitting close to a long winter. And the sight of the turtles coming out of the pond up on Canns Beach Road to bask in the sun balances that death wonderfully.