Woodland Cries

How do you know if a fawn has been abandoned by its mother?

Just last summer, my partner and I were hiking on a lesser-known trail in the Black Hills National Forest. We were just driving through on one of our cross country adventures when we stumbled upon the trailhead and decided to take the chance to stretch our legs.

The area was quiet, and despite there being a campsite not a mile from the trail, there was not a car or another human in sight. Enclosed by ancient, tall trees, tall forest grasses, an abundance of colorful wildflowers, and rolling valleys, the trail itself looked promising for landscape and nature photography. So I grabbed my Canon T6 and my favorite telephoto lens (300mm) and we hit the trail.

At first, all we could hear was the rustle of the leaves in the breeze and the happy chorus of birdsong. We hiked along the trail for about an hour and captured some of the Black Hills’ most spectacular views. I was already feeling like our spontaneous hike had been a success and that I had gotten some promising shots. But that was when we heard it, a long, high-pitched cry.

We thought it was a bird at first, but it was unlike any bird we had ever heard before. Both my partner and I like bird watching and are familiar with the species in the area, so we quickly dismissed the thought that it had been a bird.

Yet, we kept hearing it and the cry was coming from a spot just ahead on the trail. It didn’t sound menacing by any means, but the cry did seem distressed and panicked. It really just sounded like something was wrong.

As we hiked closer and the cry go louder, we saw the tiny culprit of the noise: a very small newborn fawn. It was smaller than a cat and had the brightest white spots, so we guessed that it could not be more than a week old.

Now, the two of us grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin, so we knew enough about deer to know that something was not right. Generally, the young fawn will stay hidden in the tall grass until their mother comes back, and they certainly should not be crying so loudly that every predator within a 5-mile radius could hear it.

The baby fawn crossed the trail, took one look at the two hikers standing there, and started to walk toward us. It wasn’t walking in a direct line, but it was slowly making its way to where we were standing. All the while, it continued to make its sad cry.

We tried our best to keep our distance because you do want to stay away from baby deer just in case the mother is in the area. Yet, this was the closest I had ever been to a deer this young. The entire time the baby deer was investigating our presence, I was taking pictures to document our experience.

What was the most heartbreaking was that there wasn’t much we could do to help the fawn. If we had been closer to a road, campsite, or any other civilized area, we could call a local rescue station for advice on whether we should bring the fawn to an orphaned deer rescue or let it be. But since we were nearly 4 miles into a hike in the middle of the forest, there wasn’t anyone we could call and we certainly could not carry it out with us.

So we watched the baby deer wander off into the tall grass as it continued the mournful call for its mother. We could only hope that the mother was around and would come back to find her baby soon.

As we enter the season of new baby deer, it’s important to know how to act in a situation when you find a fawn. I found this resource from the Second Chance Wildlife Center very useful for learning about what to do if you encounter a lone fawn.

Thank you for reading!