Hopefully, this fawn made a clean getaway.
Almost every deer hunter I know has an intense dislike for coyotes because of the ways they can impact the deer herd. "Fawn killers" is a term that is thrown about often when it comes to these predators. It is why many hunters will turn their deer hunt into a coyote hunt in a hurry if one happens to wander past.
While we know that coyotes kill deer, we rarely see this life-or-death struggle in action in the field. Fortunately, trail cameras have given us a window into wildlife scenes we may have otherwise missed in the great outdoors.
This trail camera just happened to capture the moment a coyote chased a fawn through the woods. As the fawn struggles to get away, it bleats loudly in distress. Hot on the heels of the fawn and coyote are two full-grown does who seem determined to put a stop to this attack.
We may never know how this encounter turned out. It did not look good for the fawn because the coyote was extremely close as it ran through the frame. We can only hope those does were able to fight the coyote off if it did manage to grab hold of the baby deer.
You can see the motherly instinct of the does in full gear here. A fawn distress call is a sure-fire way to draw any just about any female deer in the early season. It is simply wired into their nature to respond to a young deer making that kind of distress call. Even though only one of those does could be the fawn's mother, the other was immediately drawn to the cause.
As tough as it is to watch something like this, it is nature in action. The predators must eat, and their instincts draw them to fawns naturally as easy prey. We do not have to like it, but it is simply the way things are in nature. We are sure the owners of this trail camera probably made it a point to do a little extra predator hunting that fall just the same.
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For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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