This poor deer was grazing underneath the coast Douglas-fir tree, so I am including it in this year's Tree Year Project. Despite the total lack of photographic merit in the 2nd and 3rd photos above, I wanted to show this buck's torn ears. Indeed, his right ear is nearly torn in half with the outer edge flopping about, and the left has a decent sized notch in it. I'm assuming this is fairly common, as Jim Coda featured a torn-eared buck in a recent post. Those annual antlers must be a pain! I'm wondering if this is the same buck I saw back on October 28, 2010, especially considering I haven't seen another buck around home in 5 years.
