We needed to go to the grocery store so we decided to go to the Winn-Dixie on Big Pine Key, with a stop at the Bucktooth Rooster for dinner.
The Bucktooth Restaurant is known for food made from scratch and huge portions. (We were sorry to see it sold a year later as the food is not as good IMO.) Their lobster bisque with cornbread was one of the best I have ever had. They only sell their soup in large crocks, so Randy and I shared. It was a special so we were lucky it was on tonight’s menu. Randy ordered their “Ridiculious Reuben” which contained both corned beef and pork loin. The sandwich was huge and Randy could only finish half. The remainder came home for tomorrow’s lunch. I had their salad with blackened shrimp and scallops with mango vinaigrette. It was delicious. The scallops were huge and cooked to perfection. We also ordered a slice of their key lime pie. It was good but still does not compare to the pie from Mangrove Mama’s. And we remembered to get our “Chicken Scratch Card” punched. Once you get the entire card punched, your 7th meal is free (up to a specific limit).
We parked near the back of the restaurant so we took the back exit to go to the grocery store. We figured this would be better than trying to make a left out on US-1. This road was a very round-about way to get to the Winn-Dixie. The road ended up being no more than an unpaved road. But we did get to see a few key deer. Key deer are found from Big Pine to Sugarloaf Key with the greatest concentration on Big Pine Key and No Name Key. The Key deer is a subspecies of the white-tailed deer. It is the smallest North American deer with a shoulder height of approximately 24 to 30 inches. Males weight about 80 lbs. with the females about 64 lbs.
Key deer are now protected and are listed as an endangered species. Hunting of key deer was allowed until 1939 when the hunting was banned. Even with the hunting ban there were only 30 deer remaining by the end of WWII. Poaching and habitat destruction caused their numbers to plummet to near-extinction levels by the 1950s. The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 to provide protection for the deer and their habitat. They were listed as endangered in 1967. The population has increased but many are killed every year due to vehicle strikes. It was estimated that most of the key deer population survived Hurricane Irma with only 21 key deer killed from storm-related causes. You can tell from the pictures we took that they have lost their fear of humans.. We slowly drove by them and they just watched us.
