The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is reminding everyone that deer fawning season is still happening and there are recommendations of what to do if you encounter one in the wild. 

According to Dallas County DNR Conservation Officer Dustin Eighmy, summertime is one of the busiest times for deer and other wildlife animals to have babies. He says that most phone calls they receive this time of year are when someone removes a fawn because it appears to be vulnerable and they are nurturing the animal themselves. Eighmy indicates that most of the time the adult animal is around, even when it’s not obvious.

“When we’re talking about a baby fawn, the mother is not sleeping with it, it’s not hanging out around it. She’s going to have that baby fawn away from her normal area that she is usually in to get it away from predators. That baby fawn is going to look like it’s injured if you come upon it in the first week, because it’s going to lay there, it thinks you can’t see it. Mom comes back in the morning, the evenings, and a couple times throughout the day to check on it and feed it until it’s old enough to start following mom around.”

Eighmy stresses that it is illegal to have a wild baby animal in your possession, and that the chances of survival diminish immensely when it’s out of its natural habitat. However, he details that there are licensed rehabbers in the state of Iowa who are able to take injured animals, but strongly encourages people to contact a conservation officer in your area before making a decision to take it home yourself.