These cool dudes seemed to know they were the big studs of the area and weren’t afraid to let themselves be seen. They were hanging out in one of the campgrounds in Rocky Mountain National Park and were quite content to people watch, unthreatened by all the humans around them.

Mule Deer are quite common across the western half of North America and can be found everywhere from the mountains to the plains. While these two bucks are clearly getting along fine right now, in another few weeks they will likely find themselves doing battle and trying to garner the attention of the area females.

I happened across this little one, its mom and its twin while hiking on Saturday afternoon. While mama was more than willing to pose for pictures, the young ones were far more cautious and opted to stay hidden most of the time. They proved to be quite adept and keeping themselves out of view but I did manage a few captures including this one when one of them was looking right at me and framed by the trees.

Mule Deer are quite common across the western half of North America and can be found everywhere from the mountains to the plains. This family opted for a high altitude residence at about 10,000 feet in Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado.

This handsome fellow was grazing along the road’s edge toward Maligne Lake on our recent visit up north. This was probably in our top three favorite areas of the park. So much scenery and wildlife that it took multiple trips to truly be able to take it all in.

A very, very cute find early one morning at Jasper National Park. This young one and its mom were out for a walk and it paused just long enough for me to snap a few pictures.

Unfortunately, looking at them afterwards, the images were very, very dark. I had not checked my camera settings which were left at the ones I use for taking pics of birds in flight. Ugh!

Thankfully I was to recover a decent image in post processing although it is much grainier than what it should be.

The Colorado Front Range was hit by a heck of a snowstorm over the past couple of days; Mother Nature’s way of reminding us exactly who is in control.

This mule deer and a lot of its friends had found a nice place under a tree to bed down that wasn’t covered in snow. That did not mean it was entirely dry as you can tell.

Good thing for it that wildlife is pretty well adapted for this type of thing plus, as is typical in Colorado, we’ll be right back to the 70s by the end of the week.

With the sun having just popped up over the horizon, this doe was enjoying grazing through a field on a quiet Colorado morning. The low, soft sun gave some nice backlighting to this gentle creature.

Mule Deer are found across western North America with a wide range from the mountains to the Great Plains. You could of course guess that they get their name from their rather large, seemingly oversized ears.

During winter, deer lose their antlers but then almost immediately begin re-growing them. Each year this young guy’s antlers will get bigger until he is about six years old when they will be at their largest.

White-tailed Deer are North America’s smallest deer. They are very fleet-footed capable of speeds up to 30mph and able to leap as high as 10 feet and as far as 30 feet in a single bound.

Taken at Cherry Creek State Park (Colorado) this past Saturday.

This handsome young fellow is among the smaller bucks at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I have seen him a few times over the winter, usually keeping his distance from the older and much larger fellows. On this particular day, he and some of the does were grazing among the snow-covered grasses and shrubs. Mule Deer are quite common across the western half of North America. While this particular guy leads a charmed life on a wildlife refuge, they can be seen everywhere from the mountains to the plains.

Mom’s of all species just always seem to know how to show they care. Such was the case with these mule deer this morning Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The doe and fawn spent a few minutes nuzzling each other on a very chilly morning today. Lots of deer this morning at the refuge, all lazily enjoying the quiet.?