Morning walk

   This morning walk was like all the other walks, almost.  The boys and I enjoyed the growing light. The sounds of silence were everywhere.  A hooting owl.  A mooing heifer.  The unique sound of the Sand Hill Cranes that are somewhere nearby. 
  The views are pretty much the same as well.  Sweeping views of pasture, live oaks, cattle, and deer.  A look in any direction here on the ranch shows you deer.  They are everywhere.  They were outside the window of the trailer this morning as I had breakfast. 







Then the morning walk became different.  The Boys and I had been walking for about 45 minutes and were turning back toward home.  Corrals surround the show-barn. The corrals are for containing cattle. or goats.  Deer jump into these areas to get a bit of grass.  They scatter and  jump back out when we see us coming.  This morning a deer was running back and forth trying to find a place to jump.  The first try was unsuccessful so he resumed the skittering back and forth.  He went back to that same place and tried again.  As I watched he was caught in the wire.  He struggled kicking and kicking and then he stopped and hung there.  Unmoving.  His struggle for life had ended. 
   Jab, one of the ranch hands drove up at that moment, went over and checked the animal.  He stopped and talked to me.  Unfortunately, this was not an unusual occurrence.