Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire New fawn at the house

We have a group of does ages 12+, 8 and 5 that take up residence on the east side of our house beginning April 18th until they drop their fawns. They mostly show up on hotter, sunny days about 11:00 am and rest in the shade until about 5:30 and then they wander off into the woods.

Yesterday as we were fixing dinner we noticed that the 8 year old (named Chip) was still next to the house as were her mom (the 12+ year old (named Snip) and Chip's two buck fawns from last year. My wife noticed some strange activity from Chip and looked out the sun room window and what do you know - Chip had just dropped her fawn in our herb garden. We spent the rest of the evening watching her clean up the fawn, deal with the afterbirth (dropped down the foundation vent well) and work to get the fawn on its feet. When we headed to bed, they were still there, but gone at 4 am. Chip did come back at 6:20 am to check the birthing area.

About 30 minutes after birth, the three other deer formed a semi circle around her location and intently looked into the woods for about 15 minutes. They were all motionless, but their ears, eyes and noses were on full alert - then they ambled off..