With the milder temperatures that have been teasing us comes some new animal activity.

My wife brought to my attention that many large birds were soaring over our home the past few days. The first question she asked me was about the annual trek of the turkey buzzards that call our area their home territory in the warmer weather.

I looked up at the birds and quickly noted that it was part of a hawk migration and not the buzzards. The buzzards generally show up on or near the first day of spring, how they know this day is one of the cool things about nature. According to past behaviors they should have arrived by March 20, which is the official day of spring. I will be on watch to see if the traditional arrival takes place.

Something was going on with the deer population this week, as well. I observed two young does running wildly in a field near my home. At first I thought that they were spooked by a dog or person and taking flight with tremendous leaps and sharp turns. Then I saw several others come from another direction and join in with the other two.

They now had my full attention as they piqued my curiosity with their behavior. No, they were not running from fear or danger as they emerged from the woods once again. The young deer faced each other much like the family dogs would do on a romp. One made a move and the other mirrored the same action and they sprinted and jumped about each other.

The lyrics of a song came to mind as I watched, “Joining in the reindeer games” as it appeared they were running about in the mild weather in pure fun and enjoyment. Now that’s a sign of winter passing as the herd frolicked and played instead of conserving the energy they save for the cold months.

Unfortunately, the passing of the cold weather and melting of the snows also reveals a more harsh side of winter. We had a call from some members of the local sportsmen’s club that some deer were highway casualties over the winter.

One such deer ended up on a small pond near the highway that many local kids like to use as a fishing spot. I investigated the area and found the deer frozen to the ice and resisting my efforts to remove it.

“Great,” I thought.

Fishing season coming up and we have a deer stuck to the ice and posing both a health and aesthetic issue for the anglers. With the warming weather I knew that this would be one of the last chances to make a removal without side effects.

I formulated a plan and called on my wingman Jim Bonetti as a safety precaution when we went on the ice. We were only going out about 10 feet, but I still didn’t want a chilled reception in the icy water. I pulled out some boat rope and my old trusty mattock.

The mattock was an old tool much like a pick axe that was introduced to me years ago by my old friend Orante DeRubeis. Orante used the mattock in the garden, limestone mines and for all digging jobs. It is a cool tool with a digging edge like a pick and a sharp edge like an axe. Orante showed me the effectiveness of the tool for years in his garden.

We arrived at the site and immediately took a long pole and tested the ice. It seemed OK as we slid 1 foot over onto the ice and then the next. Yep, it was a frozen mess and worse yet, the legs were under the ice. There would be no easy pull as we placed the rope around the deer for dragging it later.

I then began to chip away around the deer like a silhouette and the deer started to become freer of the ice. The more I cut away at the ice the more I realized that I was on thin ice.

Finally, our efforts were fruitful and the deer came free and we removed it to a wooded area for the scavengers. Our theory was that it was hit by a car and wandered onto the ice or a snowplow tossed it up on the ice.

Either way, we timed it perfectly because the next day I went by the pond and it was open water and the Canada geese had arrived for their spring rites.

Spring is in the air!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.