The other day we had a visitor of the 4 legged kind, a fawn was dropped off by it’s mother. This fellow (or girl) I don’t know of a way to tell the difference between male or female, was dropped off by its mother. If you know, please leave a comment below of how to determine the sex of a deer (from a distance anyway).

Typical Days for Deer and their Fawns

Come to find out, deer drop off their offspring in safe areas. Then, after foraging for food will return to pick them up. From this website I pulled these notes: “Spotted white-tailed deer fawns offer one of the most appealing sights in nature. Fawns typically appear walking closely to their protective mother or bounding across a field with seemingly unlimited energy. However, in May and June many fawns are found curled up in the field or forest alone, with no vigilant doe in sight. Is this an orphaned fawn? Almost certainly never!”

Our guest Fawn was watched over by our girls (babysitting him) with no minimum wage :). However, they enjoyed it nonetheless. They watched the fawn’s every move. For the most part, he/she stayed next to our woodpile. The girls gave it the name Samson (They like naming all of our animals that visit).

A couple of times he ventured away from the woodpile but then he remembered what his mom told him. He made his way back to the woodpile and patiently waited for mom to return.

On one of the excursions away from the pile, we grabbed some great pics!

What do you do If you find a Fawn in your Yard?

Typically leave them alone. They may walk around your house and yard and that is ok. If you are outside and they walk up to you. Try to push on the shoulders and get them to lay down. Keep your pets away. The mother deer will be by shortly to pick up the deer and whisk them away. Don’t be alarmed if it takes several hours either. Ours took roughly 3 1/2 hours before the mother returned. A little scary at first thinking something happened to the mother, however no reason to be concerned. If it goes beyond 8-12 hours there could be a problem and you may want to contact a local wildlife representative.

Until next time!