There's a deer inside the elk fence.
I heard something outside and was wondering. (When one lives inside an elk exclusion fence, one tends to listen for noises like that, even if unconsciously.)
It's night, dark and quiet, a clear sky after today's hours of downpour.
I'm not sure how it got past the perimeter and into the compound The gates are closed. It's possible that since a deer is smaller than an elk it squeezed in somewhere we weren't expecting.
It's December, so it's OK. There's still some fallen apples on the ground, and I won't begrudge the animal those. Since the garden is in dormancy status, that's not a worry either.
It's far more troubling to have a large cow elk and her calf inside in June, believe me.
I spotted it with the halogen lamp I was using to enlighten some carpentry work in the basement this afternoon.
I suppose I'll open the gate and try to shoo the gentle critter out (I think it's over by the apple tree right now.)
Tomorrow, at daylight, will try to figure out where it got in.
Sat Dec 15, 2012 at 10:36 PM PT: Bambi seems to be running free again. No sign of eyeballs in the floodlight, no more pacing the perimeter looking for a way out.