Pool Party
In the late 80’s, my husband, Ron, and I came home from a Memorial Day camping trip. I was tired after unloading the camper, so I went upstairs for an early soak in the bathtub. After getting into my night clothes I had my mind all set for a quiet, relaxing evening. Anyone that knows me knows that is something not likely to happen.
Just as I had gotten comfortable on the couch, the phone rang. On the other line I could hear the frantic voice of my neighbor, Marcy. Marge, another neighbor, had an inground swimming pool. A deer had nuzzled their gate open and decided to take a swim in the pool! I told her I would be right there.
I ran up the stairs two at a time, grabbed my clothes and was both undressing and dressing as I ran down the stairs. Ron is used to my sometimes “not-so normal behavior” (no one need comment on that – Ha), but he thought this was a little over the edge, even for me. As I was running out the door he yelled, “Where are you going”? My answer was short: “Deer in pool.”
Marge lives just a couple houses from mine so I did not have to run far. When I got to her gate there were already seven people in the yard. Everyone was at the shallow end and the deer was at the deep end. I yelled for everyone to move somewhere else, otherwise the deer would not go to the shallow end.
Marcy told her husband to get in the pool and push her out. My reply was absolutely NOT! The deer would slice him to pieces with its hooves or drown him. I ran home and got my capture pole, as my mind was thinking that I could snag on to her, pull her to the shallow end and she could walk out. Well, that did not go as planned. Just as I got to the side of the pool, the exhausted deer went into a roll, belly and legs upward, and she was sinking to the bottom of the pool.
I instantly dropped to my knees and thrust my hand down, grabbed her ear, pulled her to the surface, grabbed the other ear and I was now nose-to-nose with a full grown deer. The thought at that moment was “OK, what are you going to do now?” I threw myself backwards, and when her chest got out of the pool, she kicked her back legs out. I pulled her front legs forward as far as I could pull them and laid over her head. Bill lunged forward to grab her back legs and she kicked him in the shoulder, sending him rolling. He jumped up, grabbed her back legs and pulled them back as far as he could. I yelled instructions out to my neighbor, Tim, that I needed a pillow case, and to Bill’s son I requested he run to my house and tell Ron I need a roll of duct tape, like yesterday wouldn’t be soon enough.
I put the pillow case over the deer’s head to calm her down, then we hogtied her with the tape. Marcy wanted her husband to get their car and drive it to Kimbolton. That would have been a two hour drive – did we really want to do that? That deer was exhausted, and that was not going to last long, so we needed to go somewhere close. We had a pinto at the time, so we opened the back hatch and placed her in the back. Bill drove while four grown men and I restrained her long enough to drive a half-mile down the road and release her.
On the way, we passed a police car and said a prayer that he would not look in his rear-view mirror. We made it with no problem. After we got to where we were going to release her, we pulled her out of the car, faced her away from the car and grabbed a knife from Bill. I said “on the count of three, cut the tape, I will pull the hood off and everyone run!” On count three, we all did our jobs and when she came up she was MAD! She ran to the woods, turned to face us, stomped her foot, blew and snorted at us, then turned and ran into the woods. Awwww, the sweet smell of success and no one got hurt.
FAWNS ARE BEING BORN NOW.
If you see a fawn, DO NOT TOUCH IT OR PICK IT UP.
A doe will deliver her fawn and as soon as it can get up and walk, she moves it to a new location. This is someplace she feels safe. The fawn will stay in that area for the first month of its life. It is important to not touch it. FOR THE FIRST MONTH IT HAS ZERO ODORS ON ITS BODY. This keeps it safe. Normally, if Mom catches the scent of anything or anyone, she will leave the area so her baby is not noticed. She will not be far away. You may not see her, but she sees you. When it is a month old it will begin following the mother.
When a predator comes around, it is normal for the fawn to lay cat-like, nose-to-rump, ears down and completely still. A coyote can pass very close to it and never notice it.
It is in trouble ONLY if for several hours it is continuously roaming and crying. Sit back and enjoy the beauty, DO NOT INTERFERE. You could be the cause of that fawn losing its life instead of helping it.
Copyright 2017 Fran Kitchen
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