Crop Damage Deer

[sfc mac]

A farmer I know shot a doe last week on his land and thinks it was the mother to a fawn he has seen several times. I saw the fawn tracks today with no other adult doe tracks. If this is now a orphaned fawn..will a another doe "step mother" the fawn or...is it now left to take care of itself. Would it be unethical to find it and kill it before it becomes coyote bait? I'm on the fence with this. I need more opinions. thanks

[jonny5buck]

A farmer I know shot a doe last week on his land and thinks it was the mother to a fawn he has seen several times. I saw the fawn tracks today with no other adult doe tracks. If this is now a orphaned fawn..will a another doe "step mother" the fawn or...is it now left to take care of itself. Would it be unethical to find it and kill it before it becomes coyote bait? I'm on the fence with this. I need more opinions. thanks

I think the unanswered question is did ''farmer fred'' shoot this deer legally???? and if so for what??? because of the crop damage??? killing one deer will make no difference and he will need to shoot another 70- or so raccoons also....deer can do some serious damage i have seen it first hand on cornfields...

Since im not a biologist and deer behavior expert i can only offer some insight since no-one else has responded to this post.Im not positive but i dont think it will be orphaned by another doe..although it is possible.Any time man intervenes in natural occurances such as this it seems to be more harmful than good...a doe will chase down a person and possibly attack,.. if her fawn is threatened and she is aggressive or frightened...although rare it could happen....yet the same doe if needed will cross a a swollen creek while the fawn follows and drowns or is swept downstream....this is how nature operates...harsh and unforgiving...but at least they are free..i would say to let it play out they way it plays out....the bigger question is why did the farmer shoot the doe while the fawn is probably still 99% dependant on her for survival??and was it legal??

[sfc mac]

Thanks for the reply. Yes he is legal in taking the doe. He is registered with the Wisconsin DNR for crop damage permits. That is how I know him..I called him a couple years ago from a list of land owners by county who have crop damage permits. Anyway..venison is his primary meat scource so the deer don't go to waste. He grows veggies an other types of plants for privately owned restaurants that the deer (when they do come out) will brouse on their way to oher food sources. There is 3 larger food scources right across the street from 2 sides of his property that the deer go to or come from. Back to the main subject. I will let nature play out and watch for the fawn on my 2 trail cams i have set up. Once i figure out how to post my cam pics..i will

[sfc mac]

The fawn was nowhere to be seen and he spotted the1 doe cuz it was eating on his plants he was trying to grow. After wards he then realized he may have orphaned the fawn. He feels bad about it and so do I. Wont know for sure until we see this fawn by itself or I capture stills on my cameras. So we will see how things go.

[Cut N Run]

Whether or not that orphaned fawn is "adopted" by another deer is hard to say. I have fed the deer here at my house for 18 years and get to watch them daily. I have seen another doe's fawn nurse on a different doe, but it was probably three+ months old at the time and was eating solid foods as a major part of it's diet by then. However, the doe that allowed the fawn to nurse was the offspring of the doe who was killed by a vehicle and left behind the orphaned fawn. The orphaned fawn became part of the herd and usually ran with the doe that accepted it.

Deer's territory is controlled by a matriarchal society, which means the related group of does tend to stay roughly in the same area and the bucks are programmed dispurse to help create a better genetic mix to the herd. Most likely, the other deer will pick on the little one because it doesn't have anyone to stand up for it. If it was the offspring from one of the dominant does and was born sooner than some of the other fawns, it may have size and strength working for it. That fawn still does not have a protector or much sense at this point and would become easy prey for any predator. It is possible that it could survive by staying near a group of deer, but they would have to accept it. Most of the fawns I see orphaned before hunting season just aren't sharp enough to go it alone.

Jim

[charlie 01]

Best to leave Mother Nature take care of this.

[jonny5buck]

I really hope you and the farmer don't beat yourselves up about the fawn and what happens...i wouldnt lose any sleep over it,but i totally understand the empathy and concern....thats just the burden good folks have....a conscious-