question about a nervous doe

Jen, you might try mowing the pen shorter if conditions work for you. The doe is upset from being moved and alone. Make a presence everyday in the pen giving her treats. I'm sure she will calm down with time. Good luck

I guess that if it were me, I would put the fawns with the doe. They will tame down again once they get used to their new home. The tall weeds might even give them some security. Usually, we see ours early morning and then just before dusk.

I had problems with a nervous buck when I put him in a pen alone. I slid in a tame doe fawn with him and he calmed down immensely. I say get the fawns with her.

Jen, I will answer your questions in the order you asked them. I do not believe the tall grass should be considered a problem. I agree with your Dad's assessment of it providing security for the doe. Your doe is trotting the fence line because it is new to her. Give her some time to get used to her new pen, although your pen size is adequate, possibly she came from a larger pen.

High winds will make all deer nervous.

You could put the babies with her, but yes you definitely risk them taking cues from their mother. All deer in general will act and take cues from the most nervous in the pen, that is just natural. That is the way they survive in the wild. The exception to this is when you have an incredibly dog tame deer, like some of ours, other deer in the pen can run and blow all they want and as long as I'm standing there, they don't move.

Some people like vegetation in their pens, some don't. Some don't want them eating the low nutrition weeds that might be in the pen and want them to eat only what they are given. I have 7 pens, 1 acre apiece, some have weeds, some don't. I prefer at least some vegetation for drainage. Ideally one could plant some good nutritious food in there like red clover and have the best of both worlds.

Whether you put the fawns in with her or you don't, time will certainly calm her down, especially if she was indeed bottle fed, longer if she wasn't, but she will calm.

I wouldn't worry about the weeds.

Here is something I can share with you that will help you forever with your deer raising. Begin feeding your deer bread. The quickest and best way to a deer's heart and to accomplish trust and develop calmness is from your hand to their stomach. Bread is a safe treat because it is made from grain. Don't expect them to take it right away, although some may. Begin by putting some in their grain trays and/or begin tossing some by them when your are in the pen. Eventually when they start taking to it, it is amazing all the advantages that you can gain from it, of which I will post later. When my deer see white slices of bread being frissbeed through the air, they come on a dead run.

This is long enough. Later I will post more on the advantages of feeding bread. Hope I've helped. I agree, this a great forum.

Good luck and God Bless!

Mark

Deer are herd animals and usually don't like being alone. If the fawns are really tame I would definately put them in with their mom. They will trust the person that feeds them. If you got their trust they will come out of the tall grass to see you and get their favorite treat. Mom will want to get in on the action trust me. You may have to toss the treats to her at first but she should come around. Deer like a place of security to hide in when they get spooked. It doesn't have to be 6 foot high weeds but high enough for them to hide in. I would leave the weed patch as it is for now. I would not walk into the tall weeds for awhile either. Let it be their safe place. A place of there own for now. We have a small patch of pine trees on our place that the deer go into in bad weather or if something spooks them. When we put our first deer in the pen we hardly saw them at all for a couple weeks because they stayed in the trees. Their food and water was not in the trees so they had to come out to eat and drink. While its true that they did their exploring mostly at night at first by the end of the first month the bottle feds had been won over and eating out od our hands. Rick

I am interested to learn more about the white bread for treats.

Feeding bread to your deer has amazing results in just tamng the deer to your presence. When they link you with the bread the process begins. I have had mother fed deer tamed enough to eventually take bread right out of my hand and some even be able to pet.

We have had deer escape before, gate left open, and it has been the bread that got them back into the pen. We have literally, "pied, pipered" them back through the gate and into the pen.

The more skitso ones that eat bread yet remain somewhat skittish, we have used bread to lure them into dart range when we had to dart them. And whether you want to dart them or not, sometimes you just want them to come closer for a look at them to see antler progress or whatever.

As important as any of the advantages, we have administered oral meds though the bread. Along with bread we also feed as treats graham crackers, cinnamon or plain, as well as Ritz cracers. When it comes time to worm and you want to use a powder such as Panacur or an antibiotic that is in pill form, you simply add water to the med to melt it down, smash the crackers up and mix it with the meds until it is the consistency of a paste so that it is spreadable. Spread this on the bread, fold it in half and feed it up. This can save you knocking the deer down to administer the meds as well as being sure the deer gets the full dose should you be using darts to administer a certain med.

Find a place that has day old bread and you can pick it up pretty cheap. I promise you will be glad the you have bread eating deer. My bottle fed fawns from this year are already jerking bread out of my hands and are already tamer becuase of it.

Good luck and God bless!