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Show 'Warning Given By Game Dept. In Regard To Fawns i Mid-June and early July is the period when most of the mule deer in Utah have their fawns. It is also the season of the year when many people are afield fishing, fish-ing, hiking, or picnicing. Every year scores of young deer are picked pick-ed up and brought into towns by well meaning people who have run across the seemingly helpless and abandoned fawns while pursuing their outdoor sports or work. These young deer are then raised as pets by the finder's family or turned over to the game farms or wardens to worry about. In very few cases is it true that the fawns have been abandoned by their mothers. The does hide their fawns in the brush while they are out feeding or watering and the fawns spend the greater portion of their first few days laying concealed and practically motionless. It is understandable that anyone discovering a hidden fawn and not seeing the doe around will come to the conclusion that it has been abandoned and will, therefore, die unless it is taken tak-en home and fed on a bottle. However, How-ever, in most cases it has not been abandoned by the mother as she is probably off in the brush someplace watching the intruder but too frightened to show herself. It should be remembered that the young mule deer relies upon remaining re-maining motionless with its spotted spot-ted coloration blending into the lights and shadows of the foliage to escape detection. The doe deer instinctively tries to draw attention atten-tion away from the spot where her fawn is concealed and will therefore there-fore seldom show herself in the vicinity when someone approaches the hiding place. Everybody is urged not to molest mo-lest the young spotted deer that they may find on their trips out-of-doors unless they know for certain cer-tain that the mother has been killed. kill-ed. Unless there is positive evidence evi-dence that the fawn has been abandoned it is far kinder to leave it where it is found as in practically prac-tically all cases it will be well cared for by the doe. There is no authority by which the fish and game department may give permission for private possession pos-session of public fish and game, except as prescribed by State and Federal laws relative to hunting seasons, licenses and bag limits. In other words the game department depart-ment cannot give any person title ti-tle to live game. In cases when young deer are picked up and raised as pets they do not become be-come the property of the individual individ-ual who is raising them but remain re-main the property of the people of the State. Such possession is one of custodianship only and is therefore subject to reclamation by the State should conditions warrant it. |
