An update on Pretty Boy

Pretty Boy is a little buck that was running around our house for most of the summer. I named him after seeing him so often and because I would stop the car, roll down the window, and talk to him. He seemed unafraid and curious. I took this photo in late August.

I hadn't seen Pretty Boy much since hunting season in November. It's not unusual, though, for the deer to roam far and wide during the mating season. Plus, well, it was hunting season. And while I knew no one who was hunting our farm had killed Pretty Boy, that didn't mean some of the neighbors had not.

Pretty Boy still lives, but he has been wounded. My husband saw him Wednesday morning for the first time, and he was limping badly. His right front leg is dangling uselessly from his body.

Muzzle-loading season is in until this Saturday. I think if my husband sees Pretty Boy again, he will shoot him to put him out of his misery. The entire shoulder looked swollen when I happened across him in the driveway and saw him by the car lights last night. It was all I could do to keep from crying as I watched him limp away. It broke both our hearts to see this little buck looking so pitiful as he tried to manuever the fields.

We don't know if he was hit by a car or hit with a bullet. Maybe he just misstepped and broke his leg in a hole. But most likely, from the looks of his leg and shoulder, he is full of infection and will die anyway. Mother Nature just generally is not kind to her charges when they've fallen prey to misfortune.

This is just "one of those things" and part of life, but it still tugs at my heart. I should never have named him and singled him out. Doing so just makes it feel very personal.