In the world of young ungulates, there are “Hiders” and “Followers.” Hiders lie down and hide while mom forages. Followers tag along. Too often when someone happens along a baby deer alone in the woods, they bring it to a vet or wildlife rehabilitator, thinking the poor fawn has been abandoned. In reality, they just abducted the baby deer. Poor deer.
One night, while driving down a single lane gravel road bordered by a large river on one side and a steep rocky incline on the other, I happened along a momma and her fawn. The fawn was old enough to follow mom at this point and was doing just that. When I came up behind them, momma deer ran for a bit then darted up the hillside, but it was too steep for baby. So it ran, and ran, and ran and ran. Not wanting to stress the poor thing out anymore, I stopped my truck, turned my headlight off and waited for it to go up the bank. After a couple minutes, I turned on my headlights. And there was deer staring right at me. So I turned them off again and waited...again. This time when I turned my lights back on, the deer had curled into a ball in the middle of the road. It was “hiding.” Only it wasn’t. It was in the middle of the road.
I honked my horn. No response. I honked again. Nothing. I got out of the truck and yelled at it. It was still hiding. I walked toward it, shouting and waving my arms about. Still nothing. Finally, I grabbed it around the waist and shook it until it bawled and its little legs wiggled with the need to escape. Then I put it on the ground, slapped it on the ass and yelled, “Natural Selection is not going to be kind to you!”
