Deer Oh Deary Me!

    This year we seem to have visited many locations with animals as the main attraction. Parc Omega was one of them. Parc Omega was established in 1985 and opened its doors to the public in 1991. The original concept was to offer a place to discover and observe North American wildlife in a natural setting. This vision has been progressively expanded including other natural attractions and presentations including a range of accommodations allowing guests to sleep close to wolves and bears. As you will see from the photos below, many artists, artisans and entrepreneurs have been involved in the design from the very beginning.

    Considered a living museum, the park allows visitors discover the wildlife that inhabits Canada. The Parc Omega website states, "We hope to show the beauty and simplicity of nature to our visitors whilst creating a natural and safe environment where wild animals can live peacefully. We connect people to nature so that they can become aware, respectfully and with an optimistic view of the nature that surrounds us."

The park owners were very clever in their use of the annually shed antlers.

Here (above and below) are two examples of how they have been used.

Hundreds of antlers used to decorate the entrance to the gift shop

and restaurant.

This is one of many, many carvings we saw throughout the park.

All of them had a nature theme.

    With two bags of carrots in hand, we drove into the Parc Omega 12 km safari route. Many deer of all sizes and colours were waiting for us. It is obvious that they know the routine. They would come forward to the vehicles looking for a handout of carrots. We were told, "feed any deer except for any that have antlers". The time we were there the male deer were rutting (breeding season). The males could be very loud and aggressive so feeding them was not allowed. Although there were some on the road looking for handouts, it would not be wise to feed them. If one of their antlers got stuck in your car, the result would not be pretty. So off we go and the photos below show our time through the safari route.

Here I am waiting to take a photo of any animals we may see.

Even in the last week of August you can see the fall colours start to appear.

At one crossroad was a large inukshuk

pointing the way.

Welcome! Welcome! Here I come!

BEWARE!! Don't feed anything with antlers!

A baby deer on the side of the road. I'm sure Momma is nearby.

The little ones would not approach the van so we threw out a carrot

for them. They will soon learn what to do to get the "carrot reward".

A close up look at the deer.

"Hello. Where's my carrot?"

Al gives a deer a carrot.

Nice Rack!

Along the route there were many hogs who were not too interested in the 

carrots but very interested in the corn and seeds that the rangers spread out

along the route. An enticement which draws the animals out of the woods.

Next....

This guy has shed one of his antlers.

A young fox

The wolf compound...

...lazy days!

Shelter for the Bison

Bison grazing

Bison are very large with big necks. There are signs throughout the bison 

compound warning visitors not to feed the bison but some people just 

don't take heed. Click here to see what can happen when you break the rules.

The park has many varieties of deer throughout.

We fed many of them.

    

    Here are photos of the many carvings throughout the park.

A antler-inspired dream catcher

Deer are roaming around everywhere so you

can get a real close up look at them

There was a short elevated walkway where you

can walk high in the trees and look down among the

many wood carvings.

Here is Al up amongst the trees

Bev walking in the trees

    Driving through the 12 km safari route you may see over 27 different animals and birds. Here are some more of the animals that we saw that day:

Black bears

Brown Bears

And more deer

"Can I slobber on you?" Yes, I got slobbered on by this gal.

She got a carrot anyway.

Although we did not see any we knew that there were beavers in the area.

And more hogs

Wild Turkeys

This delicate and distinctive deer is a Suede deer.

Mountain Goats

A weird sighting...."Serving a head on a platter.",..just having fun!

    We had a great time travelling through this 900 hectare reserve feeding the deer and seeing the many animals that inhabit Canada. We would do it again.

Our final look at deer!

    We highly recommend that when in the Outaouais Region that you visit Parc Omega. During the winter months they have more activities such as dog sledding, ice skating and a sugar shack in the spring.