Do orphaned fawns ...?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Brian M.
15-Jul-22
...get adopted by another doe, or are they outcasts to fend for themselves? Talking not weaned. A dry doe can't feed them, a wet doe has her own unless she lost them.
From: Highlife
15-Jul-22
If you find one just contact your local warden and he will contact the state OU and they'll take care of it
From: Scrappy
15-Jul-22
I know it has been said over and over but I'll say it again. Just because a fawn is alone doesn't mean it is abandoned. Now if mom is lying in the ditch dead the fawn will have to fend for itself cause the real world ain't Disney.
From: drycreek
15-Jul-22
My buddy killed a doe on my place that had twins. My mistake, I thought they belonged to a different doe but they didn’t. I felt bad about that and watched over them as much as possible, even to the point of running an arrow through a year and a half old spike that tried to gore the little buck. I never saw them take up with another doe but consider that they were probably five or six months old when orphaned. As far as I know they made it through the winter on their own.
From: WV Mountaineer
15-Jul-22
Ttt
From: Brian M.
15-Jul-22
Didn't find one. Just curious if a doe met an untimely death, is there any chance a fawn would survive. I know weaned fawns have a good chance and will run with the herd. I'm sure roadkill of all species leave orphans, but deer are mostly social animals.
From: Zbone
16-Jul-22
Once see a photo (I think it was here) of doe with 4 small fawns... Highly unlikely they were all hers...
From: DanaC
16-Jul-22
Around here my money would be on the 'yotes. Or bears.
From: Thornton
16-Jul-22
There's a yearling that lives behind my house. Last year when she was a fawn, I saw her linger near a doe with twins. She seemed to like their company,but not actually be with them. Most "orphaned" fawns are not actually orphaned at all. The doe is usually feeding within a few hundred yards. If their ears are withered on the tips, the fan is probably orphaned and is dehydrated.
From: Trad PA
16-Jul-22
I read “touching the wild” by Joe Hutto, good book, it’s about mule deer….as I recall from his book orphaned fawns would exist with other deer but generally weren’t well tolerated and were basically outcasts but could survive. I read it a while ago so I’m pulling from memory but I think that was pretty much the gist.
From: Highlife
16-Jul-22
And yet no one asked what the OU was.
From: Brian M.
17-Jul-22
Orphan Unit? So many auto corrects I just let it go.
The original question was referring to actual orphans, road kill doe, crop damage doe kill, etc. Not PRESUMED orphans. Though not weaned, would they survive by browsing or adoption. Thanks for the responses.
From: LBshooter
18-Jul-22
Best to leave them alone and let Mother Nature do what she does. I have read that a doe will adopt a fawn and it's like other animals will adopt , if not coyotes have to eat too. Mother Nature figured it out ping ago and it seems to work pretty well.
From: LBshooter
18-Jul-22
Best to leave them alone and let Mother Nature do what she does. I have read that a doe will adopt a fawn and it's like other animals will adopt , if not coyotes have to eat too. Mother Nature figured it out ping ago and it seems to work pretty well.
From: LKH
19-Jul-22
Doe w/4 small fawns. Probably were her's. Rare, but it does happen. Last few years we've had a doe w/triplets. Got all of them through the fall. Haven't seen her this year but with the drought last year there seems to be reduced fawn production this year. Only a couple sets of twins.
