For the past several years, we have had small herds of deer living in our neighborhood on the west edge of the Denver Metro Area. They have been getting bolder, coming into our backyard at night. Several days ago, they even came to snitch food from the bird feeders before it was fully dark. My dogs startled them out of the yard. But then…

They stopped, just over the fence, in my neighbor’s back yard. They were bucks; I could tell by the knobs on their heads where their antlers had been. Several of them walked by me, no more than three feet away, to get to my neighbor’s dormant garden patch.

Remember that my dogs were just on my side of the fence, barking like crazy. The deer didn’t care.

When the neighbor’s dog finally came out, they still weren’t worried. They just hopped another fence and returned the dog’s play-bow.

They finally wandered away, jumping the fences like we’d step across the gutter.