Over the weekend, my wife and I went to visit friends in Storm Lake. We try to get together at least a couple of times each year.

Dick and I have been hunting partners for close to 50 years. We started hunting together when neither of us was old enough or responsible enough to be out alone or together with a gun. In spite of this, we never got into trouble and built a lifelong friendship based on our common love of nature and the outdoors.

Shortly after 6 Sunday morning, he and I were drinking coffee on the veranda when I noticed something running down the opposite side of the road that passes in front of his house. I told Dick I thought I saw a mink in the road. By the time he could turn to look, it was out of sight. He gave me a look like he may, after all these years, doubt my sincerity. A few minutes later, it returned and came into his yard. We both got a good look at it as it played beneath the pine tree next to the driveway and ran toward the house. We sat quietly as it checked the flower beds next to the house and ran back out to the grove of trees that protect the farmstead from the wind.

The mink had been gone only a few minutes when our wives emerged from the house, coffee in hand.

“You are not going to believe what we just saw!” I exclaimed. I was right. They did not believe me. They made some rude comment about too much 4th of July celebration the evening before.

By the time we returned home, it was late afternoon of the same day. My wife and I unloaded the truck and sat on the patio to relax and discuss how pleasant our weekend had been. I noticed something move near the pasture fence off to my left about the same time as did my wife. A small fawn ran from the pasture, under the fence, and across the hill in front of the house. White dapples on brown hair may serve as camouflage in the forest, but against a green lawn, it stood out well. From there, it turned, ran across the driveway, onto the patio directly to my wife. It stopped a couple of feet in front of her, jawing like a submissive colt.

We stared at it as it looked back at us. The big brown eyes danced as it took in the strange surroundings. The moist black nose twitched as it took in human scent for the first time in its life.

Luckily, the dogs were not close by or there may have been a problem.

My wife moved suddenly and scared the fawn who spun around and ran up toward the barn. She and I briefly looked at each other in disbelief and jumped up to get our cameras. We could not determine where it went so we could get a picture. I feel certain its mother was watching from the pasture as it ran into what I am sure she thought was great danger. We sat quietly for quite a while, wondering if the fawn would back track to its mother or the doe would track down her baby. We saw neither. She probably circled the house and caught up with the little fawn in the pasture on the other side of the house.

It is unusual to see a mink out playing and hunting in broad daylight. It is even more unusual to be sitting on one’s patio and be approached by a fawn. We were lucky enough to have both such strange and unusual encounters in one day.