I was sitting on the deck drinking coffee with the uragan watching for squirrels. Saw a few, but so briefly never any shot. Then I caught some sort of movement in the shade under a cedar about 125 yards away that got my attention. Pulled up the uragan, set the parallax close enough and put scope on 16 power to take a look. It was an extremely small fawn, I'm 5'11" and when it stood as tall as it could, the top of its head would not reach my knee. Went inside and got my Swarovski bino's, got comfortable in chair and watched it. Over the course of nearly half an hour, it wandered all over my yard slowly getting closer to the deck/house. That is not normal behavior for a fawn no more than a week old, they sit tight wherever mom leaves them to browse until she comes back to nurse them, they do not walk around with mom that young unless mom is moving them somewhere. It got within 40 yards before I heard it. It would take a few steps, look around, briefly look nervous and quietly bawl trying to call mom. It ended up 10 feet from me, and we had a quiet conversation, me talking to it and it quietly bawling looking at me like it wanted me to find its mom. Finally it walked around the corner of the house, still travelling directly away from where it came from, so young it is not completely steady walking. The odds of it travelling that far, bawling for mom and eventually getting re-united are slim, but there is a chance. I'm guessing mom bedded it down under the cedars and crossed the road to go browse something in the cattle field or one of it's draws. I heard a few vehicles over there which probably were blocking mom from getting back in time to nurse the fawn. Fawns that young have no scent, it keeps them safe. The only way for mom to find it again is by calling, and it is a long way from where she left it, and getting further every step. The slim is why I let it walk around the corner of the house and disappear. Way over 90% chance it is a meal in the next hour travelling around bawling like that, foxes/coyote/bobcat/etc.. will eat it soon, especially where it was heading.
Would have been a good meal or two, I've actually eaten two that young in my life. Back around 2006 I was deer hunting and watched a doe late september browsing on berries for over half an hour, it was about to get too dark to use the open sights on my lever action I was using, and was the only deer I saw all day so I took her. BTW, legal hunting times here are one hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset. I had someone hunting a couple hundred yards above me on the power line, so just sat there until it was completely dark before getting down and dragging her out of the briars. Then a tiny little thing stepped out 40 or so feet away balling loud. Yep, late Sept. and a almost new born fawn. That is actually not uncommon in SC, I've seen them every month of the year in this state, very rare Dec-Feb, but have seen them even then. I knew it would be torn up in short order if I left it, so I walked up to it and took it out from inches with my handgun. One minute later it's brother steps out bawling, same thing. I'd killed their mom and they were dead already, only difference is they died instantly with a bullet to the brain instead of being torn to pieces overnight.
Would have been a good meal or two, I've actually eaten two that young in my life. Back around 2006 I was deer hunting and watched a doe late september browsing on berries for over half an hour, it was about to get too dark to use the open sights on my lever action I was using, and was the only deer I saw all day so I took her. BTW, legal hunting times here are one hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset. I had someone hunting a couple hundred yards above me on the power line, so just sat there until it was completely dark before getting down and dragging her out of the briars. Then a tiny little thing stepped out 40 or so feet away balling loud. Yep, late Sept. and a almost new born fawn. That is actually not uncommon in SC, I've seen them every month of the year in this state, very rare Dec-Feb, but have seen them even then. I knew it would be torn up in short order if I left it, so I walked up to it and took it out from inches with my handgun. One minute later it's brother steps out bawling, same thing. I'd killed their mom and they were dead already, only difference is they died instantly with a bullet to the brain instead of being torn to pieces overnight.
