No one is sure who "Rudolfina" the deer with a colorful collar is or where she comes from in the Alamance and Smryna areas, but she's a pleasure.
She comes out of the woods and will wait until her dog buddy gives the OK, then both of them will come forward to meet you and maybe take some food from your hand.
Wayne Coats has done this many times. Guy and June Solley have seen the deer, too.
"I live about half a mile away from Highway 77, and coming out of my garage one morning, I saw this deer with a collar. When I came back from work, the deer was gone," Coats said.
The next day he heard his own dog bark.
"I went out to the fence and there was the deer and a dog," he said. "The dog wagged its tail but wouldn't come closer until I patted my hip and whistled. It came a little away and finally all the way, and so did the deer. I fed them both a little dog food."
The deer and dog stayed for a little while and then went into the woods. This happened on occasional days as the weeks passed.
"The deer had a wide collar, and one time I noticed there was a raw place where the collar was, so I got ready to put some medicine on it. But the next time I saw her, the deer didn't have any necklace. And the next time after that, it had the narrow red one it has now."
Coats said the deer won't come up until the dog seems to say it's OK. He's taken several cellphone pictures of the two, once both eating out of the same plate.
"But one can see her all up and down Highway 77 now going on many months," Coats said.
He hasn't seen the deer or the dog in about four weeks now.
"I'm hoping they are OK."
Coats said he isn't worried. The two seem to know their way around.