The Romance of Nature

The crackle and pop of the gravel, underneath the tires, was amplified by the dense silence. It was an hour before dawn and we were traveling to our favorite hunting spots on the family farm.  It was not only silent but eerily dark.  Darker than usual because clouds covered the legions of stars that normally blanketed the country sky.

We navigated only by our headlights which seemed to be cut short by the darkness.  Suddenly the gravel appeared to take on shape as the lights revealed a huge Whitetail buck standing in the middle of the road.  It barely glanced at us as we slowed to a stop.  It was the rutting season and he only had one thing on his mind.  We could see her at the edge of the light in the field next to the road

Before we knew what was happening, a second buck appeared out of the blackness.  The first one swung around and the battle began.  We turned off the engine and lowered the windows listening to the sounds of the antlers as they cracked together and the grunts and groans of the combatants. It was thrilling and mesmerizing.  Wild life realized far beyond the two dimensional scenes of a nature documentary.

As quickly as it began it was over and the second buck retreated into the darkness. The victor wasted no time claiming his spoils. She had waited patiently for him and like the end of an old movie, the scene faded to black as we continued down the road giving them some privacy.  Driving away, I realized that from the moment the battle began we had hardly spoken a word.  We were silent observers capturing time, not with a photograph or a video but with a shared memory that was ours alone.