A Doe and Her Fawn

About 50 yards from my front porch I watched a doe and her fawn slowly creep from the wooded area that borders our camp and feed cautiously in the hayfield. Every so often the fawn would hop as if to play. They walked slowly and ever so often the doe would look my direction, keeping a close eye on me, lifting her flag at times causing the fawn to freeze. Normally the mother feeds alone and leaves her fawn well hidden in thick vegetation. The fawn will lay in the "camoflauge position" with its legs tucked and its body stretched out with its head and neck laid flat on the ground blending in with the leaf litter. The mother will return at intervals to nurse it. I guess as they get older they will accompany their mothers to feed. Fawns are usually weaned at about six weeks, but this one apparently wasn't as it ran up to the mother and began nursing. Click on photo to enlarge.