• Thursday-What'sUP June 19 - 10:18 pm

Here in the Keweenaw, nature sometimes needs a helping hand, as is the case of this little critter. Ashley Byykkonen and her Mom, Judy Byykkonen teamed up to bring us these pictures of a recently abandoned fawn. Someone found it lying in the middle of the road and moved it off to the side, hoping that it's Mother would return for it. They went back several times that day to check on the little deer, but the Mother deer never showed up for her baby. The folks who found it, then decided it was time to step in and help nature, by caring for one of God's little creatures. They did some checking with folks that have raised fawns before and now are successfully feeding this beautiful baby with bottles and it's reportedly eating quite well. You can see that Jewel dog and the baby are getting along just fine too and by the bottom photo, there seems to be no problem getting it to settle down for some sleep. With that "horse" blanket around him, it's hard to tell where he starts and the blanket ends.

For anyone concerned about the future for this little deer, the folks that are caring for it, are hoping to just feed it until it's eating on it's own and then will not keep it confined, so it will be free to go back to the wild. It may just stay pretty tame though, since it's been around humans almost from the beginning. There really wasn't much of a choice when this baby was found, it was either nurture it or let it die. I'm glad they chose to care for it!

Awwwwww. Great they found this cutie & are taking care of it!

These are great pictures today! Fawns are so sweet, I would have rescued this baby as well, as for releasing him/her, that would be so hard for me to do, hubby would have to do that part. Is it possible for a doe to have triplets? Lately I have seen a doe with three fawns in our field several times.

If that isn't one of the sweetest things I've ever seen, I don't know what is. I'm sure glad they're caring for it. I wouldn't have wanted to see it die. Who knows, that deer may not want to go out on its own. It probably loves the attention.

Hi
A problem with releasing the fawn is that it will not think humans are dangerous, which is plainly not true in deer hunting areas. I agree they couldn't leave it to starve, but they should take some further thought for its future: family pet? part of a petting zoo? Maybe I'm wrong and it'd be possible to train it to be afraid of humans.

I believe there is a rehabilitation place somewhere in Wisconsin that will "re-introduce" deer back to the wild.

BEAUTIFUL stuff tho...Bless you folks that are deer-sitting! You earn God Points for that!

Very nice...I wish I could find and extra buck or two at the side of the road.

Nice pic's, good story, way to go Judy & Ashley!

I found 50 bucks once. Right in front of the shop door on a week end no less.

Love the pictures, love the story. It is a real cutie with really long legs.

In times of little stress and an easy Winter, does will have trips. Deb's parents had a doe with three fawns that visited their yard quite often last Summer.
Mr. Deb

Good pictures Mom & Little Sis.

Thankyou Mr. Deb! I thought it might be a possiblity, but not too often.

Their hooves are so tiny too, a couple years ago Taylor got to pet one that was just a week or two old. Its great someone saved it. I was wondering how they get them redy to go back out in the wild.

Cute pictures.

Ashley and Judy:
That is so great you are taking care of this precious fawn. The photos are wonderful. Because this fawn will grow very attached to you and not be afraid of human interaction, I urge you to find out everything you can from experts before letting it go out on its own. Perhaps that isn't possible now. You did the right thing to take this fawn in and care for it, but maybe it would be best for this deer to be a pet on a large farm or something. Best of luck to you. This fawn is very lucky.

Great contribution Ashley and Judy!!!

I wish both of you tons of sunshine and SISU to move forward. Thoughts and prayers to you both daily.

ADORABLE!!

She is just so cute! You could just cuddle that little fawn forever! But they does grow up! I am glad she is being taken care of by people who care!

My cousins nieghbor raised a fawn, it was so tame it would come right into the house if you let the door open. They now have more than one last I knew. They did have to get a special license of some kind to keep it and their is a large fenced area to protect them as the are out in the country close to hunting grounds. What an amazing thing to have happen in ones life.
Love the pictures.

AWWWWW!!! What a cute little bugger! Neat pictures ladies!

Hey Rowdy - I think that was my 50 bucks! hehehe! ; )

~Deb

I just read an article that says a man was killed by his pet deer during the rut season. So if this sweetie is a boy, that would be something to watch out for in the future...you know how those hormones are.

What great pictures! My grandkids are up, and they just loved them. I had to keep scrolling up and down so they could OOOH and AAAW over them.

"The Yearling" was one of my favorite books and movies when I was young, and I can't help but think of the trouble that fawn caused when it grew up.

It would be great to find a place where it could grow up free and still protected somehow. I'm afraid it would be killed in the wild. Some so-called "hunters" just wait for the nearly tame ones to grow up so they can kill them. Some "sportsmen", huh?

If thats the deer I saw one mile south of Calumet, it almost hit my truck and a car behind me knocked it down about 3 pm yesterday. it was the tinyiest deer I ever saw.

The bucks can be dangerous when grown. A fellow I used to work with, retired and is raising elk and deer. Some of the males are belligerent year round. A 2 year old whitetail finally nailed the guy, goring him in the groin and lower abdomen causing damage no male reader wants to hear about. Fortunately, the man is big and strong enough that he was able to grab the antlers and hold the buck off so he could work his way to the gate and escape. He was able to call for help and is now fully repaired. The whitetail was sold to a "hunting preserve" where some "sportsman" has, by now, converted it to a trophy. I applaud the effort to save the fawn, but please consider sending it, if it is a him, to a deer rehab center.

Hello to all the uppers,
I am looking for some interesting attractions to see while up in the U.P for a family reunion in July. We have been up many times before but there are very far apart visits. I actually was raised in Ontonagon for my first 14 years and was born in Calumet. We are really interested in the mines, are there any that are left that you can tour?

Please go to http://www.michigandnr.com/dlr/
It is a listing of State licensed rehab facilities.

Lorcie...check this website for the Adventure Mine in Greenland, near Ontonagon. You probably know where that is, since you used to live there. What years were you in Ontos?
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/mine/venture.html

Lorcie ... Both the Delaware mine http://www.copperharbor.org/site_files/del_mine/del_mine.html and the Quincy mine http://www.quincymine.com/ also offer tours. I personally have taken the Quincy tour and can recommend it.
If you are interested in mining the Coppertown Museum in Calumet is worthwhile. And of course the Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Tech is a must.

Awwwww......too cute!!!

Very Cute! but be very careful. I had a tiny fawn on my back porch last weekend. The mother left it for a while, so i did a little research in the meantime and found that you really should not touch the animals' coat as it retains the human scent. The mother, then, has nothing to with it.
I left the baby alone and sure enough the mother came after many hours, the baby began to suckle immediately, and they went off into the woods.

Leave mother nature alone or the poor thing will die.

P.S. at this time of year, mother's leave their young in search of food. They do this with a purpose, and if you disturb that purpose you will destroy that baby. It can't go back into the woods once you introduce it into civilized life. Just leave the babies alone, no matter where you find them or how wonderful your intentions. It is the cycle of life.

i agree with deb good one very cute fawn thanks for the rescue guys i remain walter p.

it's a very cute fawn, and i can understand why you would want to save it, but i used to work at a wildlife rehab center and i would like to point out some important things:

1.) as char pointed out, this time of year, deer with leave their fawns while they go do their thing. the fawns are doing exactly what mom "told" them by lying still and not going anywhere. mom only comes to feed 2-3 times a day, so she's not very hands on, and the babies are not following her much yet.

be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that the fawn is abandoned before taking one in, otherwise, you are taking it away from a mom who will be the best for it.

2.) it is also ILLEGAL to keep wildlife unless you have special permits, and those who do not have experience raising wildlife should leave it to the pros. there is a wildlife rehab center in minocqua wisconsin called northwoods wildlife center. their number is (715) 356-7400. please contact them as soon as possible.

3.) why is it important that only professionals do this kind of thing? often times, people will feed them the wrong food, or too much. the animals end up with diarrhea, get dehydrated and die. these animals, especially the babies, have very specialized diets and they need to be monitored very closely. the animals get habituated to people, which is just not good for anyone. or people are around it too much, which causes stress for the animal. a stressed animal is not a healthy animal and can die very easily.

i realize that you care deeply for the little fawn, but i urge you to please contact the rehab center that i mentioned. they have volunteer drivers to pick up animals, so if you can't go all the way down there, maybe you can meet them halfway. or you can go down, drop off the fawn and enjoy the day in minocqua. either way, that is the best chance that this fawn has to be released and survive in the wild.

I understand where everyone's concern is coming on this, but the people that are involved in caring for this deer have seen many tiny fawns.

They know that the mothers leave them for a time.

They know that the fawns stay in one spot and won't move as a defense against predators.

They know they don't carry a scent for quite awhile.

Normally they would leave the fawn alone and walk quietly away so as not to disturb the fawn. This particular fawn was actually lying in the middle of the road. It was sooo tiny-obviously a preemie or a twin or triplet that was abandoned. Most of the time they wouldn't interfere...but it got to night time and still no mom. It would have been coyote bait for sure.

They are aware that it is illegal to keep a deer captive. That is not what they are doing, they did not go out looking to domesticate a deer - the fawn was actually brought to their home and they were asked to try to save it.

They have been in contact with folks that have raised orphaned fawns before.

So relax everyone this beautiful creature is being handled with the utmost care and knowledge, by the folks helping it to survive.
Enjoy the photos!

There was never a doubt in my mind, Mary. You said they first moved it and kept checking on it. Obviously the mom was not coming back for it.

I'm a little worried about one out here right now. My husband happened upon it while out agate hunting and scared it out of it's hiding spot. I sure hope the fawn and mom find each other now. We haven't seen it around so we're hoping.

mary~ thank you for the update. i realize i may have come off sounding harsh, but i certainly wasn't trying to. it's just that i have seen a lot of well-meaning people do a lot of harm to wildlife, simply because they were not aware of the specialized care the animals needed. glad to hear that that will not be the case this time. best of luck to the little fawn. cheers.
~m