Watch CBS News

What To Do If You Find A Baby Deer In Michigan

(The Patch) It happens every spring. You're outside walking, enjoying the fresh air, blooming flowers and budding trees when you spot it – a tawny, wide-eyed fawn, curled up in the grass. What should you do? Nothing, state officials say.

In case you missed it, the DNR recently shared some information about this very scenario, including some facts about how deer care for and place their babies in seemingly "abandoned" areas:

A thicket, a patch of tall grass and a quiet spot in your back yard – all places that fawns have been found. For the first few weeks of a white-tailed deer fawn's life, its mother will hide it in secluded locations. This behavior helps reduce the potential of predators finding the fawn.

While fawns may seem abandoned, they rarely are. All wild white-tailed deer begin life this way.
A fawn's spots are excellent camouflage and will help it stay hidden from predators. In addition to being hidden by its mother and having spotted camouflage, fawns have another adaptation to help them survive – they are virtually odorless when they are young.

Click here to continue.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.