Stay away from young fawns

Late-May and June is when many fawns are born. Leave them alone!

My son David was out, trying once again for a few more morel mushrooms. Picking had been good the day before when he found seven or eight pounds of big white morels.

The fungi action yesterday was pretty poor after a long night of on-and-off rain. He found perhaps a pound of the tasty fungi, and was hurrying  through the woods so he and I could try for bluegills on a nearby lake.

He stepped over a fallen log and almost hit a tiny fawn. He got past it without touching the animal, and stopped for a brief look back. The fawn blended in with the logs and last year's old leaves, and even the white spots that dotted its sides served as an effective camouflage.

Fawns don’t move and are well camouflages. Stay away from them.

The only movement of the fawn was the lifting of its head as it looked my son over. Fawns will quickly habituate with humans, and that is not good for the deer or human. David moved off, knowing that to hang around the fawn or to touch it may lead to its death.

Baby whitetail deer fawns are popping up all over the place, even though the weather has been unseasonably cool, other than Saturday's 88-degree temperature. They are cute, they don't move, but please do them a favor. Don't touch them or pick them up to show someone else what you found.

Everyone then wants to get in on the action. They touch the fawn, and it looks up at people with big brown trusting eyes, and they rub its head like you'd scratch behind a dog's ears. They rub its nose, and put human scent all over the poor little animal, and that can be the kiss of death.

The bottom line is by committing this loving act, it may sentence that fawn to death. It's mother, almost always, is standing nearby. The doe will sense the human presence, and move away, and often people will possibly hear her movements and not find the fawn.

Fawns, after being born, are licked clean by the doe. She cleans up all the blood and afterbirth, and nurses her fawns. These fawns, with long spindly legs, can totter around a bit but several days may pass before they can travel with their mother.

Don’t even touch newborn fawns. They haven’t been abandoned.

She often nurses them, licks them clean again, and moves off to feed. The fawns stay where they are left, and having no appreciable scent, are seldom discovered unless a coyote, human or mushroom picker gets too close. If a coyote finds the fawns, they will kill and eat it.

Each spring, as I roam the woods, I find scattered patches of hair and tiny hooves. A coyote has found them and had a quick dinner. It is, contrary to popular belief, common practice for coyotes to prey on new fawns.

The problem with people, and they are well-meaning people who sadly know nothing about whitetail deer and their fawns, think the fawn has been abandoned. Although this occasionally happens if a dog starts chasing the doe, it may run off, leaving her fawn(s) behind.

After the dog tires of chasing her, she will move back to her fawn. Occasionally the doe will cross a road and be killed in a car-deer collision, but most often will return to check on the little ones.

If you, or someone else, finds a newborn fawn, leave it alone. To handle or touch it, or to have a pet dog jump on it, may create a death sentence for the fawn. Walk quickly away, and don't go back to show your neighbors the "abandoned" fawn.

If people keep moving away, and avoid the area, the doe will eventually return, and as the fawn increases its strength, the doe will lead her fawns to a different area in hopes of avoiding future problems.

It doesn't take long for a fawn to be able to move slowly with her method, but for some time, she will park the kids in a safe spot and move off to feed alone. Even while she feeds, she knows precisely where the fawns are lying, and will lift her head to check on them.

This time of year is not the time for dogs to range freely. If a dog gets too close, the doe will bolt, hoping to draw the pooch with her. It works sometimes, and on some occasions, the dog will find and kill the fawns.

Luckily, we can do something about this problem by chaining or kenneling our dogs or keep them on a leash. We can also help by leaving the tiny deer alone.

Keep free-roaming dogs out of the wood. Many dogs will kill young fawns.

A fawn has not been abandoned by its mother, and is perfectly fine as long as humans don't interfere. Cuddle the animal, and it's likely you've unintentionally killed that fawn by loving it to death.

Title: Stay away from young fawns

Tags: ((Dave, Richey, Michigan, outdoors, baby, fawns, leave, them, alone, chain, kennel, dogs, don't, touch))

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors