How did the dear succeed in saving her fawn from the Fire?
Answers
A newborn fawn lies curled in the tall grass. It doesn’t move, driven by instinct and natural behavior to remain motionless. Its mother, a wary doe, feeds in the meadow a couple hundred yards away.
Seconds later, a pair of cunning coyotes stalk through the grass, knowing what time of year it is and all too aware of the meals that await them. Then it happens. One of the coyotes stumbles across the young fawn’s bed. The fawn runs, but the chase it short. Both coyotes haul the newborn deer to the ground, ripping and tearing at flesh as it bawls, crying out in distress.
It doesn’t last long. The coyotes succeed. The fawn dies.
The fawn recruitment rate just took yet another nose dive.
The coyote is not native to the eastern half of the country. It’s because of man that it spread eastward from the Great Plains region. Now, the species is taking its toll on whitetails. And fawn recruitment rates that once soared well over one fawn per doe are now 0.2 to 0.5 in many states.
That’s unacceptable. It’s time we stepped up and started helping whitetails in an area that no one is. Here is how you can do that.