hamilton71801

My sister in law showed up this afternoon with a newborn deer. She said that it was abandoned but her friend said the mother was there and ran away when they approached it. Its been over 6hrs so I imagine the momma is long gone and now I'm stuck with it. We haven't checked to see what sex it is but know all about being careful if its a buck during rut. We got some formula at the farm store but can anyone give us some helpful hints on rearing this thing. We live in an ideal spot to do this, I just want the little dude to survive so my boys can have one of the neatest pets of all their friends.

Fronty Owner

really...

Honestly, I would say take a trip over to Heavener, Oklahoma and talk to someone at that little deer pen. its a wild animal and probably wont make the best of pets.

cincydiesel

I know that its against the law in a lot of states to have a pet deer without a permit.. Alot of it due to illegal trafficing and CWD.

ramlovingvet

ODFW would nail us here for that.
But as a Kid we had a pet deer till he sprouted a rack and was a bit aggressive.
We had it on base at FT Ord LOL Dad used to drive around in a 63 Corvair with two kids and a Buck in the back seat the buck with his head out the window like a dog.

hamilton71801

Thats funny. I've kidded my wife that I need to teach it to ride in the back of the truck with the dogs. We've got it inside for now and probably next week (if we think the time is right), we'll put it in our old goat pen. I've never seen one this small and it won't take a bottle but it will lap the milk out of a bowl like the dogs. I'll try to get some pics posted.

Oh yeah, it's legal in AR to keep pet deer.

http://www.agfc.com/pdfs/captive_wil...20arkansas.pdf

rich

would think it would would need a goat milk suplement has more fat then cow milk

Fronty Owner

It'll make some good eats in a couple years... load it up on sage brush a couple months before.

Totallyrad

You would get some funny looks. Just makes sure to put antlers on the dogs.

hamilton71801

The first words out of my little redneck boys mouths were "can we eat it". Mama didn't like that.

We're feeding it sav-a-calf milk replacer right now but will probably get some goats milk and see if it likes that better.

Lary Ellis (Top)

It is quite common for the Doe to give birth and then leave the fawn alone for awhile, they should have left it where it was because this will not end well no matter how hard you work at it.

hamilton71801

I know. What makes me mad is she knew better than to get it but did it anyway...typical woman. I've heard that most of the time they'll die when they're this little from disease or whatever but for my kids sake I hope it makes it. Luckily my neighbor has 300 acres and is an avid hunter who treats his place as a deer sanctury and we live right in the middle of it. I figure I'll put an orange collar on it and maybe one of the herds will welcome it. But for now, we'll keep it close and see what happens.

Fronty Owner

Tell mama that we are proud of your son...
This fall it will make a good meal or two.. really tender..

dslpwr81

Exactly. Biologist have logged/watched a mother go as far as a mile from its fawn just to return later. The mother will check the area before bringing its fawn to feed or etc... The mother WILL return to its fawn even after it has been ran off or scared off. I can garentee that mother is sending out doe/fawn bleats still looking for its fawn as we speak. I've heard they will look for there fawn for days without feeding or drinking. Biologist say that a cow elk will kill itself from exhaustion/starvation just looking for its lost young. I would imagine a whitetail doe would/could do the same.

s cesnick

Stating the obvious here, but, you will want to take into consideration that the deer is going to grow ALOT ! A collar might end up choking the deer once he grows..

hamilton71801

Good news. It took a couple of bottles today but even better...we found it a good home. This guy has plenty of time to make sure this little dude gets what he needs and he also lives by me and will let him run with the herd too. And guess what, its a little buck and we have some HUGE bucks around here so hopefully he has those genes in him. It sure would be cool to keep him around as a pet and then during rut turn him out to sow his seed. Anyway, I hope he makes it and I hope my sister in law learned a lesson.