Rescuing A Fawn In the Grasslands

I often find that in spite of my careful planning, I don’t always get the photos I expect to. But just as often, I get some nice surprises I don’t expect, which more than makes up for it. June 20, 2008 was such a day.

The Little Missouri National Grasslands in western North Dakota can be accessed, weather permitting, via U.S. Forest Service roads and oil well access roads. While exploring one such access road in the Grasslands, I stepped out of my car to look for wildflowers or interesting scenery. As soon as I stopped walking noisily through the dry grass, I heard a rustling sound to my left and whirled round, expecting to find a rabbit.

No rabbit did I find, but a tiny fawn which I might not even have noticed, had it not lost its nerve and stumbled to its feet. As it did so, one of its front legs got wedged between two branches of the small cedar tree under which it was hiding, and now it was obviously in trouble. I knew I could not take a photo of the fawn in its pitiful condition; it needed to be freed quickly before its leg got sprained or broken.

Kneeling by the cedar tree, I reached underneath gently to lift the fawn’s leg up and out of the branches which had trapped it. I got up and cradled the fawn in my arms like a baby as I walked back to my car, while it bleated loudly for its mom. I envisioned getting my butt kicked by an angry doe, and said: “Okay, I’ll put you down. Just sit tight a bit while I get my camera, okay?” Fat chance. Though my camera was close by when I set the fawn down, it dashed down a nearby coulee with amazing speed.

The one shot I managed to fire off was a blurred image of its rear end. Happily enough, the coulee led to a beautiful evening view of the Little Missouri River, with interesting weathered sandstone formations and flowering cactus nearby. This view below was one of a few decent ones I managed to capture that day.

The fawn got away, but I captured this view instead...so it was all worthwhile.

To view this image in its full horizontal format, click here.

I felt lucky to have gotten up close and personal with the wildlife, despite the fact that I could only prove it with one blurry photo.

— Jerry Blank