Beware of Deer

It was a peaceful Sunday evening in October 2009. I was taking the dog out one final time for the night. It was almost dark. As we went onto the grass, three very friendly looking deer came by. We live near a mountain so there is lots of wildlife that we encounter. We assumed that these were doe's, because they didn't have antlers. There was a bigger one and two smaller ones. A smaller one ran up into the bluff. The bigger one stayed by the bluff. The other smaller one started walking towards us with it's head down. My dog was on his chain. I was holding onto the chain plus the chain was hooked to a wooden post. The dog was not barking but wagging his tail and wondering about this deer that was looking so friendly. I decided that it was really quite unusual behavior for a deer to be walking towards us. They usually run away. I decided that the dog and I would go back into the patio and shut the gate. I started pulling on the chain and moving myself and the dog backwards into the patio area. Without warning, the deer took off on a dead run directly at us and started trying to trample the dog. The bigger deer was standing back by the bluff still and making some snorting noises. The dog started barking and took off running as far as his chain would allow. He had jerked the chain out of my hands but it was still secured to the post. The dog and the deer ran around the corner and were out of my view for about 15 seconds. I ran after the both of them and started yelling at the deer and waving my arms. I grabbed the dogs chain and pulled him back into the patio. I shut the gate and kept watching the deer. It now was looking like it was going to run and jump the fence into the patio. I started banging on the wood and yelling. It finally walked back over to the bigger deer and they ran up onto the bluff. The dog and I were a bit shaken. Now we have never thought much about deer. We usually just leave them alone and they leave us alone. We do, however, think of them much differently now. They are bigger then we are. They weigh a lot more then we do. Their hooves are deadly. When we go out for a walk and run across some deer, we walk way out around them and give them a lot of space. I was concerned that maybe the dog was hit by one of the deers hooves and I was terrified that he was hurt. When I thought about it further, I realized that I never heard the dog yelp so he must have escaped all contact from that deer. The dog is not to fond of being trampled to death, so he doesn't wag his tail at deer anymore. He is perfectly happy to give them their space. If they look like they are getting too close, his communication with them is a growl and lots of barking. Shortly after this happened to us, I heard a story on the news about a lady that wasn't as fortunate as we were. She was actually trying to feed a deer. The deer trampled her and wouldn't stop attacking her until it was shot. Luckily, the lady lived but was seriously injured. People laugh when I tell them I was nearly attacked by a deer but I take it seriously. I asked my oldest son where he was when the deer was attacking us. He said that he thought the dog was just barking at a rabbit and I was scolding the dog for barking. I told him that he could start taking the dog out when it was getting dark.