old country house blog

I FOUND A BABY DEER

<a href=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1065209/Meet-deer-little-handful-called-Rupert-delivered-Caesarean-section-mother-killed-car.html”><img class=”size-full wp-image-2841″ src=”http://myoldcountryhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/baby-deer-1-500.jpg” alt=”baby-deer-1-500″ width=”500″ height=”374″ /> RUPERT – Photo by Jeff Moore.

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<p style=”text-align: center;”>I FOUND A BABY DEER. NO, THis is NOT the deer above, the baby deer above is a deer named “Rupert” that was delivered via c section, 3 weeks early, after his Mother was hit by a car.</p>
<a href=”http://myoldcountryhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/3088417652_3b00d98a7c.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2842″ src=”http://myoldcountryhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/3088417652_3b00d98a7c.jpg” alt=”3088417652_3b00d98a7c” width=”468″ height=”286″ />This photo is so you can see how TINY the deer was that I saw.

I was driving down the street, and standing right at he edge of the road, was the tiniest baby deer I had ever seen..like the size of a skinny cat…he was so very tiny and wobbly…I immediately stopped and all kinds of things ran through my head…”Where is his Momma?” Is she the deer I saw get hit the other night?” “Are we going to have a baby deer for a pet?” “What should I name him?”

<a href=”http://myoldcountryhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/tumblr_m5tqzcQHy71qbvqopo1_500.jpg”><img class=”size-full wp-image-3294″ src=”http://myoldcountryhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/tumblr_m5tqzcQHy71qbvqopo1_500.jpg” alt=”hingsmakemehappy.tumblr.com” width=”475″ height=”715″ /> My “Fantasy” Pet…I could name him…”Bambi?” from: Thingsmakemehappy.tumblr.com

I stepped out of the car, and he just stood there…like a deer NOT in the headlights…just stunned and probably too tiny to even know what to do…slowly..very slowly…like still photographs connected into one movement..he began to turn away…and then he stumbled into the tall grass. Instinct told me to leave him alone….and so that is exactly what I did.

Later that day, when the kids got home from school, I said “Lets go see if MY baby deer is still there!!!” Phoebe did some googling, to find out how we should proceed and what we learned was fascinating…

Baby deer are born in the late Spring, when the weather is milder. When they are born, they have NO scent. NONE. ALL of their predators have poor vision and see only in black and white and rely on scent to find their prey. The Mommy deer DO have a scent and so they have the babies and then leave them, and ONLY come back to feed them and even consume their waste, as it has nutritive components for the new Mother. The babies mostly sleep and grow. This goes on for weeks, until the babies are strong enough to keep up and run away from their prey.

SO IF YOU see a baby deer, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TOUCH IT! Not unless you know for certain the mother is not coming back. YOUR scent will alert predators and be a death sentence for the deer. One article said if you see a baby, leave it, and come back to the spot the next day..if you come back and the baby is crying, then probably the mother is not coming back and you can take the baby to the proper wildlife refuge…otherwise…let nature do her thing…

I was sad to find out that Rupert,  the tiny deer above, did not survive…he was just too tiny. But last week, I saw my baby deer with his Momma, hanging out in the tall grass, playing with the lightening bugs in the warm summer evening air…

Hmmm.learn something new everyday!!!

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8 thoughts on “I FOUND A BABY DEER

  1. I came home yesterday to find a black bellied whistling duck and about 10 little ducklings wandering around my backyard! I had no clue what to do, so I put out some cold water and some bread. I went out again later and tried to wrangle them to take them to a nearby river but they all scattered. I hope they are all together and safe somewhere more suitable like your baby deer!

  2. Oh my! I have a story for you.

    I had a baby deer one summer after its mother was hit by a car. My brother brought it to the beach to set if free when it was large enough. Sadly, “Deer Baby” was too accustomed to people. He would scratch at the door, play with the dogs, after many attempts of taking him far away he would show up. I made the mistake of letting him in the house. He would lay downstairs on the sofa in our beach house playroom like the best houseguest. We eventually left the beach and a neighbor was feeding him. He started bothering construction workers on the island by stealing their lunches and begging.

    The DeBourdieu (our beach) security had my Deer Baby taken to a local preserve called Brookgreen Gardens. He did not know how to find his own food and could not survive on his own. My Deer Baby had a sad demise because we were to friendly with that sweet fellow.

    I love your story and thank for the reminder of do not TOUCH!

    xoxo

    1. wow Holly! What a story! Did you ever get photos of your deer on the sofa!!!

      so sad That he did not make it..sometimes you just follow your heart and sometimes the endings are still sad.

      Have a great time at the beach…wish I was there!!!

  3. I love this story. What a great outcome for your little sweetie. We have deer in our backyard all the time. I love watching them but my hubby gets mad because they eat our flowers!

  4. I found one too! I was stayed in our yard all day! It was such a treat to see the tiny little guy. I read the same things online so we did not approach it but later in that day I saw it following the momma around the yard. So cute.

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