bearklr

Touching a fawn does absolutely nothing that will make the mother reject it. This is an old wives tale to keep people from picking up wild animals (although it seems it didn't work ). Doe can hear fawn bleats from quite a distance and will usually come running. We used to carry fawns from the fields so they wouldn't get killed when we were bailing hay. The fawns would start calling and the mother would come get them and take them away. Never once did our scent make a difference.I also have quite a few friends who breed deer and handle the fawns on a regular basis with no ill effects, one of which is a game warden. Basically you should never pick them up but chances are the mother didn't go far and came back for the little guy after hearing it bleat.

Jimmy S

I ageee with those folks that said the doe will definitely accept her fawn back. I have heard of farmers moving fawns, to keep them out of harm's waythat are laying in their fields. They then see the same fawn later running with it's mother.

The presumption that the doe will not be very far away in very accurate. When a doe has (2) fawns she will separate them to increase their odds of survival. Although fawns has virtually no scent, their urine and fecal matter do, so that is why she will move them to a new location. This is usually done about every 24 hours.

Bottomline...I think the fawn will be just fine.

Bill Yox

Im with bearklr, its what our parents told us so we didnt bring every living animal back home as kids, lol. In my opinion I dont believe fawns are scentless, even. I know I can smell them. The does will clean them and while nursing she licks them to stimulate them to deficate and urinate, which she consumes. It keeps the scent and the surroundings clean. By the way, her grooming them also introduces bacteria to the fawn which he then grooms and picks up, which aids in the development of the bacteria in his rumen. Neat stuff, huh? The doe has such a strong maternal instinct that I doubt she will abandon any healthy fawn. In fact, even when theres a doe lost, the fawns stand a decent chance of stealing off another lactating doe to live through weaning.

I raise deer, so every year I see too many so-called "orphan" fawns, we always tell them to bring them back to the spot they found them, or further back towards cover. By the way, when the fawns are newborns, they might stay put, but after a week those fawns will get up and walk around a bit on their own. The doe "mews" and soft grunts to the fawns and they come to her once she gets close. Even though I raise CAPTIVE raised deer, I dont think it ever benefits the deer when we take one in from the wild. Its a dead end for that fawn. Imprinting to humans, safety issues, its just not worth it, even though I realize folks mean well.

rick_reno

Leave them where you find them.

rocksfan_1

Hopefully the deer farmer that picked up that fawn put it down, we don't want another CWD case like we had in NY blamed on the deer farmers. That deer farmer could easily have his/her permit taken away and his/her entire heard put down if they keep that deer, they could also lose their credibility in the deer farming world. I would like to hear more about what the permit person did with the deer

nodog

How'd your encounter turn out. See any buzzards?

max the dog

Little baby cows are cute too but that doesn't stop us from eating veal.

psychowolverine

Should have left it alone. You may have just killed a fawn.

Aught Six

What's done is done. There's a good chance the mother doe will find it again. They don't go far from their offspring.

And even if it does die, it'll still be part of thecycle of life. There's no guarantee it wouldn't have ended up as some fox or coyote's dinner anyway. Next time you'll know what to do to give it the best chance possible to survive.