Deer Encounters
“I found a baby deer in my yard what do I do?” is a call I frequently get from mid-May into June. It can be very alarming for the homeowner to see what appears to be an abandoned fawn in their yard. We naturally lean into our own instincts and assume deer operate the same way we do. We would never leave our own child alone in a seemingly random place for hours or days!
To really understand what’s going on here we have to put ourselves in the mind of the doe. She’s just given birth and is recovering, so she rests awhile and nurses her fawn. The doe will lick the fawn clean to remove it’s scent and avoid detection by predators. After all of this the doe is exhausted, but also hungry! So she will go forage for food and be gone for several hours, only returning to nurse the newborn fawn. During the first few weeks the mother doe will be gone for gradually longer periods of time.
Another question asked is, “why is she gone for so long? Doesn’t she want to stay close and protect her fawn?” Despite appearances the mother is never that far from the fawn. She will typically stay within four or five hundred feet so she can be alert to predators in the area. Deer are true prey animals, and doe only have one strong defense, which is to run! By staying a short distance away they ARE protecting their fawn.
Lets recap, a newborn fawn has no scent to protect it from predators and it is too weak to run. The mother doe however still has a scent and can be detected, she has become a liability for the fawn. The best thing the she can do to keep her newborn protected is to stay a safe distance away. When a predator comes in the area it will pick up her scent and she will lead it away from where her fawn is bedded down. She will return but only when when it is safe for her to do so, this could mean that she is gone for a day or two. When she returns she will move the fawn to a new area to keep ahead of any predators.
So what should we do when we encounter young fawns? The main takeaway is to not disturb the fawn or approach it. Keep your pets and children away from it. If the fawn has not moved in over a day or appears injured call the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission helpline at 866-318-2401 or seek out a local wildlife rehabilitator.
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