My Month Fostering an Orphaned Fawn - Lessons for Whitetail Hunting

[wildernessmaster]

If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend you foster orphaned animals. Aside from the rewarding (albeit tiring at times) experience, you learn a lot about nature and the animals you foster.

Sassy, our orphaned fawn was found in the middle of a very busy highway about a month ago. Not sure about the rest of the country but around here, I have seen an inordinate amount of fawns killed this year beside the road and have had to stop to avoid several way more than usual.

Unless Momma Deer had twins that year, based on weight and other factors, I would guess this fawn was no more than a week old. If she did have twins it may have been 2 weeks. Truly a baby.

Here are some thoughts and observations I have learned in fostering this fawn...

1. Deer are EXTREMELY curious creatures - and slightly fearless. Every place this deer has been it explores the area in depth. While there is a lot of thoughts about how adding blinds or a stand can alert deer - I would say based on my observation it more makes them curious. I am taking away to never put a fixed anything anymore. The first time the deer will be curious to ok with it, once it is associated with human it becomes fixture.

2. Hearing-Smell-Sight, not Smell-Hearing-Sight - I think we focus on scent a LOT in hunting, but watching this fawn I notice that it keys in more and more primarily with hearing first, then smell, then sight. So watch those noises.

3. Lots of Non Verbal Communication - We know this (aka tail movements etc) but let me say I have learned they communicate way more non-verbally than verbally. When the fawn is hungry it nuzzles the back of my leg. I would say 95% of deer communication is probably non-verbal (or out of our hearing range). And they equally respond to other creatures non verbals. When I am in a more aggressive stance, it alerts more. In the field if you think deer are around act like casual deer.

4. They really aren't afraid of much - yep. We have chickens, goats, and other animals, and the deer is just fine with them.

5. Sounds are much softer - Aside from rutting times, I think we probably as hunters WAY overdo any calls and calling. The verbalizations deer make are very subtle. Let me repeat that very subtle. Be softer with your calling. Yes they can get loud (like when I ignore it is hungry), but generally any verbalization is subtle and soft.

6. They rest A LOT - They eat a lot and they rest a lot. And my notion of "bedding area" is changing. I think bedding area is anywhere they feel safe (and full). If they move to somewhere and get a full belly and/or need to cool off, they move to the closest "safe" spot and lay down.

Hope this helps you better your hunting. Most of it you probably know, but thought I would share. If I observe more I will share it.

 

[Billy Goat]

So what are you going to do with it?

You realize a lot of State game agencies are put into a position of confiscating the animal and euthanizing it when this happens?

At one week old the doe is usually dropping the fawn and coming back to it. Happens all the time around hayfields. Might move a fawn out of the way and it will stay put until your done with the field, shortly after the doe will come back and get it.

Raising wild animals is a terrible idea, it's not doing the animal any favors.

 

[wildernessmaster]

So what are you going to do with it?

You realize a lot of State game agencies are put into a position of confiscating the animal and euthanizing it when this happens?

At one week old the doe is usually dropping the fawn and coming back to it. Happens all the time around hayfields. Might move a fawn out of the way and it will stay put until your done with the field, shortly after the doe will come back and get it.

Raising wild animals is a terrible idea, it's not doing the animal any favors.

Wow, I guess the stupid tattoo on my forehead didn't come through in the picture.

First, let me give you a few facts.
1. I am not stupid and I understand deer habits, habitat and issues with fostering wild animals. So much so, I am trusted to care for the animals.
2. I am aware of state agencies, laws and regulations - as I work with them.
3. A fawn left in the middle of a highway (oh by the way you could see the fields on both sides for 100's of yards and attempts were made to get it to momma) where there are 10 cars behind me stopped and 6 in the other direction = dead fawn.
4. There are farms, rescues and habitats for such animals. We are simply fostering it through said process.
5. Read the statistics... A fawn born that late has a very low survivability rate. Period.

Sorry I hurt your feelings or sensibilities, but take my information for the value it can bring and stop trying to shoot the messengers.

 

[Billy Goat]

Wow, I guess the stupid tattoo on my forehead didn't come through in the picture.

First, let me give you a few facts.
1. I am not stupid and I understand deer habits, habitat and issues with fostering wild animals. So much so, I am trusted to care for the animals.
2. I am aware of state agencies, laws and regulations - as I work with them.
3. A fawn left in the middle of a highway (oh by the way you could see the fields on both sides for 100's of yards and attempts were made to get it to momma) where there are 10 cars behind me stopped and 6 in the other direction = dead fawn.
4. There are farms, rescues and habitats for such animals. We are simply fostering it through said process.
5. Read the statistics... A fawn born that late has a very low survivability rate. Period.

Sorry I hurt your feelings or sensibilities, but take my information for the value it can bring and stop trying to shoot the messengers.

It's not a matter of shooting a messenger. Read the first two sentences of your post. It says you highly encourage someone to Foster a wild animal. This is not a good idea for most people. If you had training in fostering for wild animals, I'm sorry I missed that in your post.

 

[wildernessmaster]

It's not a matter of shooting a messenger. Read the first two sentences of your post. It says you highly encourage someone to Foster a wild animal. This is not a good idea for most people. If you had training in fostering for wild animals, I'm sorry I missed that in your post.

Right, YOU READ the post the negative way you wanted to read the post. You injected the belief that I was saying to go rip animals up just for fun and pleasure. You presumed I had no training. You assumed (and yes made an ASS out of...) that this was not above board...

If I had to write EVERY SINGLE FREAKING DETAIL to avoid EVERY NEGATIVE PERSON'S Personality Disorder - they would be boring posts.

So sorry buck up and just understand you decided to be negative and shoot the messenger instead of taking the post for the value it can provide.

I apologize to everyone else having to read this but it seems like there are just a lot of negative nellies on Rokslide who want to presume every poster has ill will, is immoral, or etc... I am getting a bit tired of it.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I don't have a bone in this fight. I thought the information was valuable, and a very cool bit of insight into deer behavior. Thanks OP!

 

[wildernessmaster]

I don't have a bone in this fight. I thought the information was valuable, and a very cool bit of insight into deer behavior. Thanks OP!

No fight... Just a head space and timing wrench correction to negativity...

Thank you. Hope it helps you!

 

[MajorAR]

Very cool story. I'll be following. Knowing me, I'd get attached to the deer.

 

[Whisky]

I didn't think Billy Goat was being that negative. You clearly do encourage others to foster wild animals, and I agree that is a bad idea for 99.9% of the population.

To me it looks like you were expecting some criticism on your post, and had your finger on the trigger waiting for it....

I did find your original post pretty interesting, and was hoping to see a bunch of pics with it.

 

[wildernessmaster]

I didn't think Billy Goat was being that negative. You clearly do encourage others to foster wild animals, and I agree that is a bad idea for 99.9% of the population.

To me it looks like you were expecting some criticism on your post, and had your finger on the trigger waiting for it....

I did find your original post pretty interesting, and was hoping to see a bunch of pics with it.

Foster is a formal term. If I had encourage people to foster a child - NO ONE ON HERE would have said a thing, because you would say - hey that is a formal term meaning you are trained, vetted, etc.

I DID NOT say hey you need to go snag wildlife and take it home for your fun and pleasure. Two different things.

Wild animals need fostering all the time. There are 1000's of facebook and other pages for domestic and wild animals that need a fostering home - until they find their proper place. Would you rather we let ALL these animals end up as road kill or maybe live a reasonable life and maybe contribute to the gene pool or other programs?

Finger on trigger, no. I have just posted several times absolutely ok, reasonable, and proper things and most of them there has been some negative jerk who wants to READ WHAT THEY WANT TO READ into it - or use a decent post as a forum for the psychopathy.

I have earned the right in life to say hell no to such.

 

[wildernessmaster]

Very cool story. I'll be following. Knowing me, I'd get attached to the deer.

My fiance's Marine Raider son felt the same way. Everybody has their own ability on these things. But thank you for a positive response.

 

[Drenalin]

2. Hearing-Smell-Sight, not Smell-Hearing-Sight - I think we focus on scent a LOT in hunting, but watching this fawn I notice that it keys in more and more primarily with hearing first, then smell, then sight. So watch those noises.

This one really jumps out at me. How late into life have you fostered deer, and have you observed whether this remains true as the animal matures? I was under the impression that a whitetail's hearing was only negligibly better than our own, if at all, so I'm surprised to see it be the primarily used sense even for a fawn. I do believe deer react more strongly to sounds than we would, and reasonably so, but still would have expected a smell-sight-hearing hierarchy, with sight and hearing interchangeable based on conditions specific to particular locations.

 

[MuleyFever]

This one really jumps out at me. How late into life have you fostered deer, and have you observed whether this remains true as the animal matures? I was under the impression that a whitetail's hearing was only negligibly better than our own, if at all, so I'm surprised to see it be the primarily used sense even for a fawn. I do believe deer react more strongly to sounds than we would, and reasonably so, but still would have expected a smell-sight-hearing hierarchy, with sight and hearing interchangeable based on conditions specific to particular locations.

I agree. Deer don’t hear most sounds as well as most people think. I can’t count the number of times I have tried getting a deers attention only to have to keep increasing volume way more than I thought I should have to. Now bang your metal release on your riser and they will hear that high pitch noise. A fawns nose may just not be developed enough yet or they haven’t learned what smells to watch for.

 

[Riflehuntr19]

Cool post. Not cool attitude.

 

[wildernessmaster]

Cool post. Not cool attitude.

Thanks and then no thanks.

 

[wildernessmaster]

This one really jumps out at me. How late into life have you fostered deer, and have you observed whether this remains true as the animal matures? I was under the impression that a whitetail's hearing was only negligibly better than our own, if at all, so I'm surprised to see it be the primarily used sense even for a fawn. I do believe deer react more strongly to sounds than we would, and reasonably so, but still would have expected a smell-sight-hearing hierarchy, with sight and hearing interchangeable based on conditions specific to particular locations.

My take...

While studies have shown that deer and human hearing is about in the same range (deer slightly tighter if I remember correctly), I am gonna call some "how do you ask a deer if it heard that" science BS on that one. Why, I have frequently observed the deer respond to sounds I can't hear before nearby dogs do - and dogs have well beyond human hearing.

I also believe there are some frequency ranges, my guess is in the lower frequencies that they hear that are unaccounted for. I have a very low deep voice and it responds to it better than my fiance's higher pitched voice, and often when I can not account for how it heard me.

That's opinion completely unsubstantiated by any scientific fact, just observation.

Now what I do believe is that hearing is the primary sense above the more refined sense of smell because of 2 factors: 1) deer can hear 360 degrees with pretty much pin point accuracy due to their ear rotation capability 2) sound is more discrete, travels to an animal faster and can be directional.

While biologist describe deer's sense of smell as being like our watching a holographic 4D movie, odors are harder to pin point (the animal has to move around to pin point them), travel slower and not directional (the winds can carry them various directions).

That's my guess.

Don't get me wrong, deer constantly take in the smells of their environment, but I believe sound may be more primary in real time than smell.

Just my two scents, pun intended.

 

[wildernessmaster]

A few other observations that I failed to add:

1. All the poo poo about telling anything about the sex of a deer, whether it is running or walking, etc by the splay our layout of the hoof prints is just that... a big pile of poo. Imagine deer hoofs a fingers. They move them constantly just like we do. When it is feeding and happy it splays its toes. In some ways those hoof prints may be telling you more about the mentality of the deer than the sex or speed.

2. Deer are damn smart - They learn, they don't forget what they learn. It is not all food driven either.

3. Deer are way more social than we simplify - Just like humans do, deer seek unique and group identity, and ascribe to herd members the same very uniquely. They want to be part of something but equally need "self time". They peer, they alpha, they beta... and they lone wolf.

4. Food drive while high is not the only motivator - While deer food drives are high and food can be used to motivate them, it is not the "top" motivator. Sense of safety, social connection, and other motivators are very strong.

5. I am not sold on weather, moon phases, etc not playing roles in deer behaviors as much as biologist have written it off. I have seen this fawn feeding change drastically without any explanation other than something environmental. During a new moon period it quit wanting to graze took very little milk, and basically stayed close for 2 days then returned to normal.

Something I do want to add so if a hunter ever runs into it, it won't freak them out... In the early period of feeding this fawn, as well as getting it to graze regularly we saw a few times the lower lip looked like it was distorted. At first, I was concerned it was blue tongue, some herpetic disease (cervids have them) or something else. It got worse until the it was almost weirdly obscene. When it did, I was able to see it was like a mouth zit - more appropriately I believe it was a salivary gland that got backed up and slightly infected. Each time at its worst you could squeeze the puss out the gland it and it returned to normal. If you see the lip looking odd and have gloves, open the mouth, if it is in the area between the teeth and lip and it looks like a big zit about to bust - it is probably this and is nothing to worry about. You can also normally see it leading back to one of the salivary ducts.

I suspect deer may generally get these often. We saw them several times in the fawn. Could be the some abrasion from a rubber nipple vs a momma's tit; could be the fawn loosing the momma's immunity; but also could just be a common occurrence with deer given they use their mouths like hands.

RSN-Nellies please feel free to find fault, wrong, or some immorality with my sharing this... I am an evil person for all this I know.

The rest of you... Enjoy and learn. Hope it makes you a better hunter.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

One thing we need to remember is deer learn from their mothers. Just as we see parent influence their kids behavior, so will deer influence their fawns behavior. For by nature tend to be somewhat skiddish, they are prey animals for real. They are not ever in a situation they can afford to be valiant. If they are brave, they can die really easily. This can also play into their behavior though as brave fawns gets killed (on the highway, or by predators, or whatever) and the cautious ones survive. Survival of the least fit, almost. It’s tough being a wild animal. more like survival of the most cautious.
In a situation where there are no natural predators or risk factors, a deers behavior may or may not be indicative of the herd as a whole. Certain aspects may be applicable, curtain ones not.
while the OP gives valuable info, we need to take this with a grain of salt and not act like this is ground breaking scientific research. It seems this dawn was destined for death, whether by being so late born or being brave and wandering into a roadway. Either way, the behaviors this little thing learned/exhibited may very well lead it to a timely death as quickly as it is turned to the wild. Might not too. Just too much confounding factors to say for certain.

To the OP, I Al not trying to dismiss your info. It is great, and I enjoyed reading it. I simply don’t know that much of it is applicable to a wild native deer herd. I think some of the same things you found also explain why some high fence deer are so easy to kill, they are just not raised naturally and do not develop the instincts for survival.

Just my 2 cents

 

[wildernessmaster]

One thing we need to remember is deer learn from their mothers. Just as we see parent influence their kids behavior, so will deer influence their fawns behavior. For by nature tend to be somewhat skiddish, they are prey animals for real. They are not ever in a situation they can afford to be valiant. If they are brave, they can die really easily. This can also play into their behavior though as brave fawns gets killed (on the highway, or by predators, or whatever) and the cautious ones survive. Survival of the least fit, almost. It’s tough being a wild animal. more like survival of the most cautious.
In a situation where there are no natural predators or risk factors, a deers behavior may or may not be indicative of the herd as a whole. Certain aspects may be applicable, curtain ones not.
while the OP gives valuable info, we need to take this with a grain of salt and not act like this is ground breaking scientific research. It seems this dawn was destined for death, whether by being so late born or being brave and wandering into a roadway. Either way, the behaviors this little thing learned/exhibited may very well lead it to a timely death as quickly as it is turned to the wild. Might not too. Just too much confounding factors to say for certain.

To the OP, I Al not trying to dismiss your info. It is great, and I enjoyed reading it. I simply don’t know that much of it is applicable to a wild native deer herd. I think some of the same things you found also explain why some high fence deer are so easy to kill, they are just not raised naturally and do not develop the instincts for survival.

Just my 2 cents

Love your two cents and thank you for a provocative, thought invoking response.

I would have to say, I totally agree and totally disagree...

I totally agree that adult deer refine all of the things I have observed based on their experiences and probably move to "margins" with them based on, correctly stated, "survival".

I totally disagree in that my observations were made on a new born fawn who had been with mom at least for a little while. In all animals what we see in newborns are the baseline, basal behaviors regardless of environment. In what I shared I tried not to extrapolate too much beyond that just state the behavior.

For instance, and to your theory, if you read some of my other responses in this thread, I have witnessed the fawn use her hearing more predominantly. While their smelling maybe a better honed and capable sense, I believe their primary use of their hearing is in fact what leads to a better survival factor (over smell) (as stated in the other responses). It makes physics sense, it makes physiological sense... and given I have had to "survive" myself - my sense of hearing often played a dominant role over my eyesight (which is by far more keen).

But great response. Really appreciate it.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

And I am not trying to discount what you are saying either, only that your experience was not “natural”. You took a deer that you admit would have died very early had it been left to It’s native instincts, to me that is adjusting nature. And it’s ok. As I mentioned I enjoyed reading your observations. Some very astute observations (esp about the moon phase).
However, you are falling victim to observational bias. We can’t generalize to a whole deer population what you see in one deer. Esp given that it was such a unnnatural environment it was provided. You were acting as it’s doe, you were it’s protector and you offered protections a doe couldn’t. Therefore we can’t generalize, only observe.

Again, appreciate those observations, I just want to lend caution to make too many conclusions based on your one observation. That’s all.