Saturday, July 4, 2020

Awwww -- fawns

Over the last few weeks, we've had a lot of deer hanging around.


One doe in particular spent a lot of time in the vicinity of the house. I suspected the reason.


Sure enough, a few days later I saw her in the pasture with a fawn.


Just too cute for words, no?


But there was a problem with this baby being born in our pasture. The pasture is fenced.


So whenever mama would jump the fence to go snack elsewhere, baby was left behind.


The baby would stare longingly after its mama, but it was well and truly stuck.



Mama jumped in and out of the pasture, but invariably the baby was left behind.





We made a strict decision never to let Mr. Darcy run in the pasture (where we often took him to throw a Frisbee) until such time as the fawn found its way out.

Then yesterday, while sitting at the kitchen table, I saw the fawn trot past the kitchen window!



Wait -- not one fawn, but two!

Full of high spirits, these twins embarked on a chasing game behind the barn and the back side of the garden.


Don had mowed a path through the high grass, you see, and the babies were using it as a race course.


A branch of this mowed path, let it be known, led straight to a side gate to the garden (specifically the orchard). Remember that for a moment.


I was watching the twins race back and forth, back and forth...




...when I heard a crash and saw one of the fawns had somehow bounced through the wide mesh of the gate.


It was now trapped in the garden. That certainly put an end to their game of tag. Now one fawn was inside the fence, and one outside.


I waited a while because I didn't want to stampede out there and freak the poor baby. The last thing I wanted to do was panic it into a fence and risk it breaking a leg. But after fifteen minutes or so, I snuck into the garden and opened every gate as wide as it would go. I did scare up the baby, but not too badly.



Don was away from home when all this happened, so when he got back, we walked into the garden and swept it from one side to the other. We saw nothing, so thankfully the baby had managed to find its way out through one of the opened gates.

That was yesterday. So this morning, what should I see right in front of our yard but both babies?






"Where is your mama?" I wondered, before looking up and seeing her right in the front pasture, just on the other side of the fence. Good. That meant the babies hadn't been separated from the doe.


She kept a watchful eye on her babies just on the other side of the fence.



I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of these babies in the next few weeks.




7 comments:

  1. When we first moved to our place in the country, we would see a large (for this area) white tailed doe that we called "Fidget" because she was always nervous. Then we discovered why...she had twins in the woods. As they got larger, she brought them down into the grassy area behind the house. We have no fences but they would stay about 50 yards back behind the house.

    Til one day my husband was using his router out in his work area. One of the fawns apparently was fascinated by the sound of the router. It got within about 15' of my husband before his mother came over and got him.

    They are so cute to watch.

    kathy in Ms

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  2. Very cute Patrice. I did not see any at my parent's place this week but this makes up for it.

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  3. They are some of the prettiest creatures on this earth. Thanks for the awesome photos!

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  4. Here on Long Island, we call them rats with hooves. But they are cute. A friend of mine who does wildlife rescue gets many calls every spring for "abandoned" fawns. What actually happens is the doe leaves the fawn alone while she hunts for food. Then she comes back to the fawn. If you think about it, a newborn fawn is gonna cramp Mom's style while she's trying to feed herself.

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  5. Keep an eye on your fences. If they try to jump it and fail, they may get hung over the fence. Maybe you could rescue them then.

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  6. they will become semi domesticated if you work with them. we have deer at the plant i work at(1200 acres). there is a momma that comes up to the shop late summer, looking for hand outs. she usually has her ofspring with her. the on that was coming in last year was the fourth generation doe. we have had as many as three generations at once mooching treats. guess it's because we are not stingy.




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    1. Would that be the federal ammunition plant in Anoka MN? We used to live there and the kids always liked to count the "stantlers" when we would drive by.

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