'A Doe, A Deer'

25 January 2012

by Ben Myers

Summer in Yorkshire arrived for four days last Easter and then disappeared behind a curtain of rain. All my plans for being outdoors were jettisoned in favour of staying at my desk writing a new book, punctuated only by daily trudges through mud and mulch. I treat these walks as one-man marches conducted to an internal military beat. Sometimes they last for three miles, sometimes six. But I walk everyday. It is the best preparation for writing. It staves off anxiety. Keeps you trim. Makes you engage with the non-digital world. Once a week or so I fall over and in the last twelve months I’ve torn through two pairs of (over-priced / over-rated, brand name) wellies and a new pair of Dr Martens.

But come last June when the evenings were long and even the clouds had wandered elsewhere I accidentally stumbled across a new pursuit: deer spotting. There is no doubt an art to deer-stalking, in which the hunter pursues his quarry over entire days and many miles. But I prefer to deer spot, which is far easier. All you need to know is approximately where deer dwell and once in their vicinity, how to stay downwind. And how to move quietly. The rest is down to luck...

Read on here.