Just before Christmas, on a cold and snowy night, I watched as a whitetail doe lied down in our backyard. She took a deep breath, tucked her nose in her belly and closed her eyes.  In the morning, she was covered in snow. At what hour she had expired, I do not know, but during the many short days of winter that followed, her body remained as it was that first night. The only change was an ever-thickening mantle of snow. Eventually she was just a bump in the backyard.

Spring has brought a slow, if not enthusiastic, thaw and with it came first the magpies and then, the golden eagles. Today, a luxuriantly-coated red fox snuck out of the brush to nervously rip at the winter kill. I'm sure she enjoyed this bounty of venison even if it was a bit more aged than I like. I like to think these calories will go towards nourishing a litter of pups brewing under that thick auburn hair.

Maybe I'll see them too.