Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 552: Foundations - The (Sort Of) Secret Lives Of Fawns

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Ep. 552: Foundations - The (Sort Of) Secret Lives Of Fawns · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, and now your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Today's episode isn't really actually about Bambi the movie, but
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: about funds in general and dear survival specifically. We think
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: about the last six weeks they started popping up on
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: trail camera images. You might have seen a few of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: them in your backyard or from the road while you're
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: head into the lake to do some fishing. They're adorable,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: but it's also worth understanding them and how they survive
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: because the lessons they learn when they are a few
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: weeks old and covered with spots carry them right through
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: adulthood quite often. Yeah, I know, I know. I said
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I wasn't going to talk about Bamby the movie, but
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to. It's only fitting to this episode anyway,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and we might as well get a lesson in propaganda
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: that can be used against us as hunters, which probably
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't the intention of the original movie, but it sure wasn't.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Like the fine folks that Disney were interested in representing
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: real deer and real deer hunters. Anyway, did you know
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: that Bambi was released eighty years ago? Smack dab in
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the middle of the Second Grade War, the House of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the Mouse released a movie based on a novel that
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: was actually written about a row deer, considering the author
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: was Austrian. Since Bambi was set to be a big
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: hit in the United States, they ditched the row dear
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: look and they decided on a mule deer. No, really
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: they did. It was going to be a California mule
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: deer apparently, but one of the illustrators, and I can
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: only speculate here, but I assume he knew his ship
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: when it came to deer convinced the production team that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a white tailed deer would be more relatable and more recognizable.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: The adorable little anime precursor with his big eyes when
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the Hearts of Americans with his story of survival in
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the face of the antagonist, a hunter aptly named Man
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: just Man, it's almost like, I don't know, almost like
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that was a representative of how evil people are or something. Anyway,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the old Bambster is raised by his mom until Man
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: made good on a shot and took her home for backstraps.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: So then Bambi's dad decides to come back into the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: picture and raise him to be the next great Prince
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of the forest, along the way to inheriting his crown
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: under the tutelage of his father, who has a full rack.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Even when Bamby is just a newborn, the youngster makes
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: friends with a rabbit and a skunk. I can't prove
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: this because I wasn't in the writer's room, but I
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: don't think Bamby is based on a true story anyway.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: It ends with the bad man bringing his vicious hunting
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: dogs into the woods, where not only does he shoot
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Bamby non lethally, probably because he was carrying an a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: r chambered in two twenty three or something, but his
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: campfire gets a little out of control and burns the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: forest down too. So essentially humans are bad and destructive
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and animals are pure, adorable and the rightful owners of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the forest, you know, Never mind that we are basically
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: just hairless apes and very much a part of nature ourselves.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I could go on and on about how hunters are
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: portrayed in film or television or hell. I don't know,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: just popular media these days, but I won't because my
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: blood pressure cannot handle it. In fact, if my wife
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: and I are watching a show and a hunting scene
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: comes on, I know she's going to roll her eyes
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and point out how I'm definitely going to bitch about
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: every stupid little thing I see. But to be fair,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: she's a physical therapist who can't stand to see an
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: act or use a cane or a walker incorrectly, and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: never once has she let that slide without bringing it up.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: The lesson there for my young, unmarried listeners who think
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: they'll be the prince of the old household instead of
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the forest, is that you won't. You'll be on the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: silver metal podium until you start having kids, and then
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: you'll just keep getting bumped down Cubert style. How's that
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: for an obscure video game reference? Now, if you can't
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: tell my real and prescription ran out, I'll get back
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: on task now. Fawns, they're cool, right, I mean, who
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: doesn't love seeing them? Who doesn't love glassing a field
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: in a summer and seeing a dough with a couple
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: of youngsters in tow or who doesn't love having to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: slow down on a gravel road that winds its way
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: through the big woods to let mom go, knowing that
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: any second junior is going to spring across the road
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to meet up with Mama. There need to see. But
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: what does that mean? It probably depends on where you
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: live and where you hunt. If you're in much of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the White Tails range, seeing a bunch of fawns in
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: the summer is probably very routine. You're probably used to it.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: But you probably also always expect there to be plenty
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: of deer in the landscape. That's a luxury, my friends,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: one you can't really appreciate until you hunt a place
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: where the population ebbs and flows to the point where
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the hunting might go from okay to downright terrible. If
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: you hunt the North country, you know what I mean,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: one bad winner and the reset on the deer population
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: might be like a fifty percent reduction. One wolf pack
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: moving in, and you might see similar results. Now they
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: might not all be turned into wolf poop, but they
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: might be gone, And for the hunter who has lost
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: the deer, it's damn near the same thing. Now, if
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: you hunt a region like that, seeing fawns is real nice.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I saw that recently in northern Wisconsin, and it made
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: me happy. And this is especially true if you're in
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: an area where are single fawns are kind of the rule,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and seeing twins or triplets, it's pretty damn rare and cool.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: If you see that a fair amount of the does
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: have at least one fawn, that's kind of time for
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: some hope. I know this sounds like I'm being facetious here,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: but where I hunt in northern Wisconsin, like I just said,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: we pay close attention to the fons. We like that
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: next generation. We also at least we hear is my
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: hunting buddies, and I we don't kill certain does who
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: seem to be pretty good at raising fawns. There are
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: too many predators up there and those bad recent winners
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: that knock the herd down. They are always coming. It
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: might be every couple of years, might be every five,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: might be every eight. They're coming. Just like there is
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: an asteroid out there somewhere with the address for Earth
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: written on it, and if Jupiter doesn't soak it up first,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: whatever life is still here could be in real trouble
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and that's coming. Side note, and I don't know if
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: this is true or not, but I read about the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: other day there's an archaeological dig in North Dakota where
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: they found glass that they believe was thrown from the
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: impact that killed the dinosaurs you know where that hit Mexico.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Imagine the power behind that one thing hitting the earth
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to toss physical pieces of the earth from Mexico to
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: freaking North Dakota. Anyway. Now, bad winter in the North
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Country isn't quite that severe, but it does suck, just
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: like it sucks to have a c w D slaughter
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: fest in your county, or maybe a local e h
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: D outbreak, or hell, a neighbor who just breaks all
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the laws and kills every dairy can in season or out.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: In all those situations, and probably a ton more that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I'm not thinking of right now, a new generation of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: deer is most welcome. That generation of fawns is a
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: new beginning. Sure, it'll take them a few years to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: grow into big bucks and big does that make more babies,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: But you can't be too impatient with this stuff. It
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: takes time. And you know what's cool about fawns, besides
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: what they represent for the future, how they behave We
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: see videos of newborn fawns playing with dogs and laying
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: in people's yards and gardens and not exactly exhibiting the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: kind of survival skills that you'd want your dear to have.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: But that's a short window. In fact, most of that
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: dumb behavior probably only the last a few weeks at best,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: maybe a couple of months for the really slow learners.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: But what's important is that they're always learning, and what's
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: interesting is that they might not have to learn everything.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Some of their behaviors seem to be almost like generational memories,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and we don't really know how that works. For human babies,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: it's a slow development. We take like a year to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: walk and talk, and then how a lot longer to mature,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: sometimes at least forty two years according to one mean
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: physical therapist I can think of. Yet when fawns hit
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the dirt, they are learning. They're usually standing and nursing
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: within the amount of time it would take you to
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: watch a Simpsons on and they can walk within a
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: few hours, within like three weeks, they can outrun most predators,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and in the first few weeks of their lives they
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: spend their time bedded. This is because you guessed it,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: they can't outrun predators. Yet if you can't run, you
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: better freaking hide. And they hide well and they learn
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: valuable lessons from it. Now you know, there are predators
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: out there that are just good at mopping up babies
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that are stashed away. I'm talking about bears. Of course,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: there is an animal in the woods that is better
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: at reducing deer numbers in June and July than a
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: black bear. Other creditors make up for it later in
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: a fawn's life. But if you want to not recruit
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: too many generations, a deer on your place make it
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: awful friendly for the yogis to live there. Even with
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: that threat out there, like we see in these northern
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: states and the big woods, there are still fawns that
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: make it. They make it simply by hiding where mama
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: tells them to hide. How do they do it? How
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: do they know just like where they should lay? Who knows?
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe some of them stand up and get eaten, which
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: is undoubtedly true. But most of them, and you've probably
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: seen this yourself, or I hope you have, they just
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: lay down across their hoofs. The danger will pass them by.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I've seen this dozens of times in my life, and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: it amazes me their resolve. But I guess you know
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: they don't have much of a choice. They also learn,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: when they lay still and they don't get eaten, that
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: there is real value in just hiding. I think dear,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: especially older dear, understand this game so well that we
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: can barely fathom it. I think they probably know tons
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: of spots in their home range where they can hide
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: while using their conditions to their advantage in ways that
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: would just blow our minds if we didn't have the
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: underdeveloped senses of a potato. Those fonts out there now,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: they're learning that survival skill, and they'll use it against you.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: They are also learning how to communicate with the herd,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and who will tolerate them getting too close, and who
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: will throw a right cross at them when they invade
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: their personal space. If you're confused by that, listen to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: a last week's episode about how animals are assholes and
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: as far as communication is concerned. I want to tell
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: you a story I've told a few times in various podcasts,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: so apologize if you heard this one before. But it's
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: one of those moments in the woods that changed my
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: way of thinking, and it comes back to me all
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the time. I mean, I think about this a lot.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: I was sitting in a wood edge in northern Minnesota
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: with binoculars in a spotting scope while the early August
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: sun beat down. I had obviously gotten out a little
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: bit too early for my nightly glassing session. But there
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: was a bachelor group of bucks with one really cool
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: old seven pointer and a high and tight ten pointer
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that I was super interested in watching but not spooking.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: So I had settled in real early and the first
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: hours ticked by, and then suddenly, out of the blue,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: there was a deer standing right in front of me.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: It was a fawn. It was maybe ten yards away,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and I'll never forget the way the sun hit his
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: ear that I could see through the veins in it,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: and it was glowing right through him. It was just
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: a neat look, and he was looking into the field,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and that's when I saw his mom standing at the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: far end in a point of grass and brush. Then
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: from the farthest corner of the field, I caught movement.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: A different faun was running towards the dough and I thought, well,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: maybe this is just a coincidence, But that's when that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: faun that was close to me took off ran straight
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: across the field of that dough. As well, and they
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: had a little greeting, tried to nurse, and they started
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: to feed in the field together as a little family group. Now,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the dimensions of that field were roughly two d by
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: four hundred yards, and the distance between the does and
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: fawns was pretty far. The fawn closest to me was
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: probably two fifty yards away from his mom. Yet he
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: knew right when she stood up, and his sibling did too,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: from the far corner of the field. And I thought,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: you know, how the hell did they know how to
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: get up? Now, we know that dogs learn our schedules
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: by the level of evaporation in our scent, like throughout
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the day are sent lessons to a certain point and
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: then boom, we come home from work. Over time, they
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: recognized that level of evaporation as the time it takes
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: for us to go to work and then come home.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: But I promise you that dough doesn't pick up her
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: fawns at the same time every day. She also probably
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: doesn't stash them away in the same spot. So how
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: did they know it was time to all simultaneously stand up?
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: You might be thinking, maybe the dough stood up and
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the fawn saw her. I thought of that too, but
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: that faon was buried enough on the edge of that
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: field that I never saw it for hours. From ten
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: yards away. It would have had to stand up to
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: see her. And when he stood up, she was already up.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: So was the other font I mentioned several times. And
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I don't think dear have a sixth sense, and I
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: believe that. I don't think they do, and there's no
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: evidence to prove it exists, but there is something going
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: on with them communication wise that you and I are
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: just probably not privy to. And what's wild about it
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: is that it's happening even when they are in newborns,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: even when they are still super vulnerable to any set
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of sharp teeth that happens to saunder pass their hiding spot.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I think that's pretty cool. And I also think it's
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: pretty cool what fawns can do and how old or
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: deer hold tight to those survival skills. I mean, you know,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it's not exactly rocket science that prey animals either run
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and hide, but they do it so well, and that's
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: pretty cool. And think about that fawn. In my area
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: in northern Wisconsin, bare numbers are high, coyote numbers are high.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Bobcat numbers are high, and wolf numbers are sometimes high
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: depending on how close a pack gets. That's a lot
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: of hungry, cunning predators out there that, by most accounts
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: are probably at least in order of magnitude or more
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: smarter than the average deer. After all, to hunt something
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and catch it, you've got to get lucky or outthink it,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and luck doesn't carry you very far in nature. A
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: lot of both happens, though. I think at that loan
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: fall in the north Woods Wisconsin, because somehow managed to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: avoid getting caught and eaten by all of those predators
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: when it's likely they have an encounter a day, maybe more.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: And even if I'm overshooting that number, what if it
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: was a couple encounters of predators close encounters of predators
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: I should say every week within the first year, I
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: don't know, they'd have dodged death. What a hundred times
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: how many hungry grizzly bears would you have to have
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: within say, twenty yards of you before you were featured
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: on the local news station in Bozeman. As a statistic
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I doubt it would be a hundred. I think personally
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't make it into double digits before metetor was
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: replacing me with another white tail writer. Yet those little fawns,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: those little soft dyed bambies, they're out there doing it
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: every day. Then they get to the fall and they
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: encounter the deadliest predator of them all dogs Just kidding,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: it's people, the dreaded Man and capital m Bamby man
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: with his out of control campfire, snarling dogs and propensity
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: for spraying and praying with those guns. They make it
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: through that too. A lot of them do, anyway, and
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: when they do, they're still young and by a lot
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: of accounts dumb. But we've talked about this before. Intelligence
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: isn't really like ubiquitous across animals the way we like
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: it to be. Well, hell, it's not really ubiquitous across humans,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: but that's a different story. Survival is, though, at least
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: for most of us. Fortunately in dear, including little fawns,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: it certainly is. And while they are cool to see
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: and encounter and know that they're out there growing into
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: bigger dear, it's important to remember the lessons they can
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: teach us. Running works, but so it does hiding, and
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the more we understand how dear hide and where they
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: likely to do it, the better we are at hunting them.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: That's going to be the topic for next week. Actually,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I want to get into bedding and what summer scouting
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: can do for you on that front. That's it for
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: this week, my friends. Thank you so much for the support.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Peterson. This has been the Wire to Hunt
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
• 17:09
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• 17:12
  Speaker 1: out the meat eator dot com slash wired to see
• 17:14
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• 17:17
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