by John Jefferson
Texas has roughly Five Million whitetail deer. Thousands of fawns are added to the population each year. Wildlife experts do not detect a decline due to fawns having been abandoned. It mistakenly looks to some like a fawn might be abandoned. Read the text. And don’t mess with fawns! (Photo by John Jefferson)
Ideas for Woods, Waters, and Wildlife columns come from unexpected sources. This one arose from an email by Trey Carpenter, a retired wildlife biologist, aided by comments from Alfred Lord Tennyson, Jerry Reed, Rusty Weir, Saint Paul (a Bible author), and an account of a fierce Yellowstone wolf that contained a wildlife Love story.
The common denominator of this salad bowl of contributors is Love.
This time every year, Texas Parks and Wildlife urges people to leave all newborn wildlife alone — from songbirds to fawns — wherever you find them! I also write about it annually. But we may be overlooking why the problem recurs year after year, regardless. Cause and remedy are the same –Love!
Hunters have heard non-hunters plead, “How could you shoot that beautiful deer (or bird, or other creature)?”
Most critics of hunting are motivated by their definition of Love, drawn from personal feelings. And arguing with anyone’s feelings is futile.
Futility is particularly obvious where newborns are concerned. Challenging protecting baby deer would be like trying to hold back the Dawn.
I don’t condemn those who Love Wildlife. Their motives are pure, at least to them. They want to protect those who cannot protect themselves. That’s admirable, but unnecessary. And it creates danger for the very animals they hope to protect. Education is needed to protect the Wildlife they Love from their own ignorance.
Not everything in Nature is as harmonious and delusional as some Disney movies portray. It’s a world of survival of the fittest and often a dog – eat-dog existence. Some even mistakenly call that threat a “doggie- dog world” never realizing that coyotes and domestic dogs kill fawns they are led to by scent as it matures.
I’ve encountered several fawns hidden in tall grass or weeds. A couple of them were so well sequestered out of sight that it startled me when they flushed. The one pictured with this column was hidden in weeds and another writer, Russell Tinsley, and I almost passed it by. Russ silently pointed at it or I might have missed it.
I understand that birthing after carrying the little fellow since conception is a tiring experience. Then comes nursing, which requires more energy. Nourishing food and time for a little rest are necessary for the mother doe. Especially if Texas is going through a typical summer drought when deer rations are in short supply and she may have to travel a distance to find food.
Most does hide their fawns for time out for rest and replacing nourishment. They’re good mothers, and their fawns, which lack scent at birth, are anything but abandoned. The mother knows where they are and is probably watching from a distance. Fawns’ spotted hides help camouflage them.
Touching them transfers human scent and makes fawns vulnerable to predation. And nothing humans can feed a fawn is as healthy as its mother’s milk.
So, please; if you truly Love Wildlife, Leave newborns Alone! Otherwise, your Love could be fatal to fawns!
JJ
