As you may know, an aspen forest is a single organism, what appear to be various trees are all parts of one living plant. A large aspen forest in Utah is reputed to be the biggest living thing on our planet.
My WY home sits in a somewhat smaller aspen forest, we and it coexist more or less peaceably. The tree trunks are white and the leaves, which "quake" in a breeze, are a light green. It isn't gloomy.
Deer and aspens coexist naturally, and have, to all appearances, done so essentially forever. The deer nibble the aspen leaves, without damaging the trees much, while the deer droppings and later corpses fertilize the aspen forest. Plus the trees give the deer cover, full grown deer gracefully vanish into the forest with little effort. See photos and more description at the other DrC's blog.
Our screened back porch looks into the forest and the furthest you can see is maybe 50 feet, at least while the leaves are on the trees. In daytime, the deer cannot see us on the porch, while we can see out easily, making it what hunters call "a blind." We sit there resting or eating and watch the deer live their lives, unmolested by us.
We've seen as many as 6 deer there at a time, adults and spotted fawns. Other times they are elsewhere, we don't own the whole forest, worse luck.
Last week we saw a fawn which several times jumped straight up nearly a foot, though most don't do it. I was reminded of a young girl doing cartwheels out of pure, giddy high spirits.
