This is a make-or-break time for baby deer. A good majority of whitetail fawns in Virginia are born the first week of June. Some will come a few weeks later from does who were bred later in December, during the second rut, but right now there are lots of baby deer in our fields trying to survive. For the first week of their lives, fawns are practically defenseless. Their wobbly legs couldn’t outrun a puddle duck, so their hope for survival depends on camouflage and an almost total lack of odor.
Healthy, adult does generally have twins, though sometimes triplets. With a mild winter this year and a decent mast crop, two fawns will be the norm. The mother deer finds a relatively safe place to lie down and give birth, standing as the baby appears to let the weight of the fawn carry it outside. The second fawn is born minutes later, then the mother leads the young ones away from the odors of the afterbirth. She nurses them briefly, then gives them a thorough bath with her tongue to almost sterilize the young ones from any odor. Then, she finds a place for them to lie down and wait, then leaves her young to take her sent away from the area and stands watch from afar.
In recent years, deer are moving closer and closer to human civilization to give birth, which is farther and farther from potential predators such as coyotes, bears, bobcats and wild dogs. A friend of mine has a nice place in the country and said for the past several years, the same doe hops across her fence, gives birth in practically her back yard, then leaves and watches. The doe knows that there are no dogs there and fewer predators than in the wild.
This, however, presents a problem. Having fawns closer to civilization means that more kind-hearted humans will stumble upon what seems to be an abandoned baby deer. The would-be rescuers look left and right, near and far and determine that there is no mother deer around. The fawns are abandoned. They must act.
That, of course, is the worst thing that could happen. Almost always, the mother deer is close by, the humans just can’t see them – by design.
Mother deer don’t randomly run across highways at this conjuncture to be killed, they stay close to their young and remain out of sight, coming only 4 or 5 times to nurse, lick the fawns and then leave. The mother’s milk is incredibly rich and the young deer only need feeding a few times. So it’s feed and leave. Having the mother around only draws predators, and if one comes, the mother often leads it on a wild goose chase and away from her fawns.
When a human stumbles on a baby deer, it will appear totally helpless. The baby’s instincts are to lie absolutely flat down and flatten its ears. It will not move until it hears the soft murmur from the mother. A young deer can also hold its breath so as to make no movement whatsoever.
When humans stumble upon a fawn such as this, they should admire it, not try to find the mother – they won’t – and just leave.
Mother Nature knows what she is doing.