Two Fawns Walked Up To Me

I just had a major encounter with two baby deer and I got the best part of it on video! I'll tell you the story from the beginning, and then tell you about the video.

I haven't been going very far this year because of last year's car accident. It just has made things a little bit harder for me. Because of this, I got to thinking that I hadn't been to Heritage Park, one of my old favorites, this year. It's not very far, so I decided to get into my truck and go.

There are usually a lot of people at Heritage Park, so I am always of a mind that there are no animals at this place. But I usually see quite a bit every time I go there. Even so, I wasn't expecting much except to walk this place I have liked so much.

I was on the main trail when I found myself free of any people. But when I looked into the distance in front of me, I saw something odd. It was hard to see, but it appeared to be a deer looking back at me. It seemed strange that it wasn't running away, but I've seen deer on this trail many times before.

I zoomed my camera in to get a better look, and, sure enough, it was not only a deer, it was a little fawn. I noticed that it was eating the leaves off the trees, so I didn't want to disturb it, But I had to walk that way, so I took pictures as I moved forward.

I fully expected this baby to run as I got closer, but nothing of the sort happened. In fact, this little fawn was now joined by a second, and they were looking right at me. Then as I moved towards them they began to come towards me too!

This development began to remind me of an encounter with raccoons I hada few years ago. Many of you might remember that one, but I'll give links for you newer readers who would like to read a hilarious story about how I was chased at high speed by raccoons for about a third of a mile.

Here are links to this three part raccoon story:

1. Raccoons
2. Surrounded By Raccoons
3. Chased By Raccoons

Well anyway, when these two little deer began to come forward I stopped in my tracks. I wanted to get as many pictures of this as I could. You're looking at the best right here. The two deer would come forward, then they would stop for a nibble on the leaves. Then they would come forward some more.

I was wondering why they weren't frightened of me. I knew these two were wild, but they were also babies. I also wondered where the mother was. I didn't want her angry with me if she found out how close her babies had gotten to me.

This is a big park, so I'm guessing that she just gave them a little freedom, and they were pushing that freedom a little too much. Humans are mostly safe for them here, but it's not wise for them to become too tame. I also didn't want to disturb these cute little creatures too much, but my destination was past the spot where they stood.

So now we get to this last picture. These babies were now very close to me. I had zoomed my camera out al the way, so they were actually even closer than the picture shows. This very scene is the exact spot where the video starts. And what happens in the video?

Well, as one of them walked right over to me, I watched them for a few seconds and then decided I just had to get past them. I kept the camera pointed at them the whole time. Finally, the closest fawn got spooked by my sudden movement, and decided to run. The video makes it look as if I moved closer, but I was just moving around the poor little thing. The second fawn saw its sibling running, so it decided it was time to follow, but at a more leisurely pace.

And now you want to see the video, right? Here's the trick. The video is over at Nature Center Magazine, featured as the Cool Nature Video for this week. The video is the best part of this whole story. It shows you just how very close I got to these two little deer, so I urge you to go over and watch it.


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