The Curious Fawn

On Tuesday afternoon I went to the Little Miami Trail to photograph a rusted railroad Position Signal Matty, Rick and I had found on Sunday (more about that in a future post). The artifact was located at the bottom of a steep incline leading to the lowland forest. When I got to the bottom, a family of white-tailed deer was foraging about 50 feet away. Two adult females and two fawns looked up at me. They didn't seem to mind and went back to eating...except for one fawn. She was the most curious little thing! Every time she heard the click of the camera's shutter she came closer to me...her ears would prick up and she would prance! After a while I walked away, going further into the lowlands to see if my movement would scare her away. I didn't think it was good for her to be so friendly toward me; however, it didn't scare her away. Instead, she followed me like it was a game. She'd trot away a few feet and then get low and sneak back to me...all the time coming closer and closer. Eventually I started talking to her, telling her I didn't think she should come any closer because her mama might not like it! At her closest she was probably about two feet from me being able to reach out and pet her. Fun...but not good (and probably not safe either), so I turned the other direction and walked away through noisy leaves. That caused the mama to trot off, and the other female and fawns followed. The nosey little fawn, however, looked back. If three barking Springer Spaniels had not come racing down the trail with their owners, I think she would have come back to me, but the spaniels were relentless with their alarm, so the deer took off in the other direction and were gone in a flash of white tails.

The curious fawn--a young White-tailed Deer wanted to play! I completely fell in love with her...and she with me it seemed!

She's looking back at her mama here...checking in!

Maybe she was so friendly because I was down in the lowlands--her territory. In 21 years living near the Little Miami Trail, I had never ventured down to that spot (and I'd never seen anyone else there either). Up on the trail, when the deer cross through, they are never that brave. Hopefully our little fawn looses her trusting nature because someone might be shooting her with something besides a camera one of these days...