Live and let live on a golf course (#186, Topic D)

Our unit in the retirement community faces the golf course; non-golfing-playing residents may walk on the course before 7 am and after 7 pm. I try to take advantage of this and walk for about 30 minutes every day before 7 am. Along the path, I frequently found geese, both in ponds and on grass, generally at a distance. I also found deer, invariably on grass, sometimes one or two, other times as a group numbering 7 or 8; sometimes they were as distant as more than 100 yards away from me, other times as close as 10- yards -- from a distance of 20+ yards away when I first saw them, which became 10- yards as I continued to walk on the path toward them. Invariably, they stopped grazing and looked at me as I walked by. Sometimes, they took off and ran further away from me. Other times, they took a slow step of one or two away from me -- producing a more comfortable distance between us. On rare occasions, while they stopped as usual, they remains unmoved, simply watching me walking by without yielding any ground. Since my mind is usually blank at early hours, these occasions gave me materials to reflect. Deep in my heart, I wanted them to remain where they were as I walked by. There is no reason why they should yield; I am a transient as much as they are. I came to the view that, while they stopped grazing, they were concentrating on assessing me. What is my intent? Would I harm them? My conclusion is that they were evaluating my pace -- has this stranger's pace remained steady as he approaches us? (A sudden stop or a slowing pace might suggest that the stranger is preparing to have a weapon ready to shoot at the deer.) When they remained still without moving as I walked by them, I felt rejoiced. The deer has every right to occupy the golf course as I do. Live and let live.