Oh, Deer!

We had a wonderful visit with our friends at Lake Medina. We had a full day and a half to talk, and talk, and talk some more. We had a long day ahead of us on the day we were leaving as the campgrounds in West Texas along I-10 become a bit sparse and we wanted to make it to Van Horn, TX. 

We got up at day break and set about our tasks. I took Tucker and Gypsy for their morning walk and tied them out at a tree. I felt badly for anyone trying to sleep along our chosen path because we bumped into small groups of deer on our walk, and of course Loud Mouth (Tucker) has to speak his piece to try to get the deer to move on. Oh, how he wished to run them off, and oh, how tempted was I too let him go! Dealing with a barking, lunging,70-pound Aussie is trying. 

Anyway, back at the camper, we set about our tasks: I worked on getting breakfast and the Mister began dumping tanks and unhooking cable, water, and power. He came inside to say, "Uh oh! We have a problem." (Too bad we had moved beyond Houston or he could have used that in context for a change!) I followed him outside to the back of the camper. He gestured his hand in the general direction of the back wheel, and said, "Look." I looked for a water leak. It wasn't that. I looked for a broken fitting, I didn't see any. I looked at the tire, it wasn't flat. Do you see the problem?

And then, I saw it. There was a newborn fawn curled up on the gravel between the wheel and the stabilizing jack. An itty, bitty speckled, darling, still showing marks where momma had licked it clean! Oh, my! 

I went over to our friends, who are early risers, and told them that we had a problem and bring a camera. He, being slightly hard of hearing, went and got his hammer. He's got a great sense of humor so we could all laugh at that. They were equally stunned at what we had found. 

We worked as quietly as we could to ready the camper for our departure. We figured that as long as we didn't touch the fawn, the doe would return. I did share messages with a friend who is a wildlife rescue and rehab person, and she confirmed it would be alright for us to make an exit and leave the little guy on the gravel. 

Our friends took up watch at a distance and we received a message about 5 minutes after we left that mom had returned to take her little one. We all heaved a great sigh of relief.

I am fortunate that we all got to witness this miracle. It was a truly special morning!

Side note : Newborn fawns have no scent as a protection from predators. They instinctually lie perfectly still where their mother has gently pushed them down. When I walked the dogs I passed within a few feet of the fawn. When I tied the dogs their ropes would have let them get less than 8 feet from the fawn. They didn't have a clue!