On March 29, I walked again on Goats Peak. We have been accustomed to enter the area via the access to the lumber storage area and the logging truck workshop near the junction of the south leg of Gellatly and Glenrosa Roads. However this time, when I was about to walk up through the rock cut, a truck coming down stopped and the driver told me that we are no longer allowed to use this entry point. Therefore, I had to use a lower access down lower on Gellatly, making a visit to our bluebird nest boxes a walk that is longer and requires more climbing.

There is still no evidence that the boxes have been selected by bluebirds.

One of the trail cameras recorded a visit by a curious mule deer doe. 

I saw some 20 deer in all, mostly if not all does and fawns. It is not so easy to identify bucks at this time of year as their antlers have not begun to grow appreciably. 

I did come upon a place where a mature buck had fought his last fight. This animal will have died here in the winter of 2014 or earlier, as the skull was clean and bleached. It was likely killed by coyotes--a mature buck that would have been worn down by the rigors of the fall rutting season, with the fights against rival bucks and the incessant pursuit of does. Bucks lose a third or more of their body weight in the rut, which, with accompanying loss of strength, makes them more susceptible to predation.

I came upon several more early spring wildflowers, Narrow-leaved Desert Parsley, Yellow Bells and Paintbrush

A few days earlier, I included a picture of an "Unknown" in one of my posts. The first two responses to my request for identification came from our two daughters, Aleta and Karen. I said to myself, of course, if it is a paintbrush, artists should recognize a paintbrush! I should have recognized it myself as a paintbrush, a well-known spring flower, but the unusual red colour of the long strap-like leaves and only partially opened blossom had left me wondering.