Dead fawn question

[doebuck1234]

Earlier today i was up at the property working on truck and the neighbor stopped by after coming out of our field.he's cut hay for the last 4 or 5 years on the property and never seen this situation before,neither have i.

3 days ago he was cutting and killed a fawn(common).yesterday he goes out to rake some over and theres a dead doe laying there.he checked it all out and no marks,signs of poaching or anything.broken heart syndrome,coincidental,other medical problems???

Wasnt sure if anyone has experienced this,wasnt sure if a doe losing a fawn causes that much stress?some are more educated in this type of stuff.

[G-Man]

I would think it's possible...

[mowin]

Could have been hit by a car and made it to where she succumbed to the internal injuries. 

[ny hunter]

I would also think she was hit by a car....

[Rattler]

I doubt the loss of a fawn would cause it's mother to die of a broken heart, since deer do not feel emotions like that.  If they did, many doe would die every year since fawn mortality is very high for many reasons.

[Swamp_bucks]

Ide say stress could be a possibility.  If the fawn was born that day and she had complications with the birth.  So a mix of the loss and that I guess could cause it. But it was probably hit by a car.  Not an expert so who knows.

[G-Man]

I dont think broken heart but anxiety perhaps with a heart condition or elevated blood pressure caused stroke..animals are like people many have underlying health issues, heart worm,parasites, genetic defects,complecations from birth ( internal hemorrhaging),ect. 

[doebuck1234]

Thanks for the thoughts.Just one of those things that got me wondering as having a doe that looks healthy,flopped over in the field...little odd.... but it could truly be anything.Easy meal for the dirty dogs and such!

[wolc123]

There is a strong bond between mother and offspring with all mammals.   I have witnessed and/or participated in events which resulted in does and fawns perishing together on several occasions.   Most of the time, it has been minutes or seconds apart, but there were times when it took several hours.  Usually, the doe is the first to go.  Being somewhat soft-hearted and not wanting to break up the family, I do not hesitate to help the fawn join it's momma in "deer-heaven" (my families food supply), if I get the shot opportunity and still have a tag.  

Opening day of gun season in 2016 was the last time that I participated in such an event, and that was most similar to the "hayfield" situation described in the OP.   I was hunting with a friend that year, who did not like venison but enjoys hunting.   I put him in my best blind that morning (a comfortable two-story unit with an open top deck), with the understanding that he would take bucks or antlerless deer, if a chance developed, because my own family uses venison as the source for most of our protein.  

He readily agreed to the mission, and dutifully fulfilled it with a fine button buck from the top deck that morning.   He said that there had been a slightly larger antlerless deer with it that morning, but he took the one that gave him the easiest shot.  The larger one ran off into the adjacent heavy cover at the shot, as did his "target".  That one folded up about 20 yards in, having been "double-lunged" by the 12 ga slug.  We dragged the deer back out into the field and gutted it, then hung the carcass in my garage.   My buddy had something else to do that afternoon, and the weather conditions were getting bad (rain/sleet and high winds) so he departed.

I hunkered down in the enclosed lower-level of the same blind he had been in that morning.  The weather was terrible that afternoon, with very high winds and sleet pounding the closed end of the blind.   About an hour before sunset, I noted a large antlerless deer walk out of the heavy cover.   It put its nose into the button-buck gut pile, just in time to catch my 12 gauge slug thru the spine.   It pulled itself into the adjacent ditch with its still-functioning front legs.   I walked over and dispatched it with a second shot to the neck.

I am fairly certain she was the same doe that my buddy had seen in the morning (she still had milk in her).   The fact that she returned to the scene of her earlier loss, despite what had to be a known risk, demonstrates the strength of that maternal bond.   Certainly there is a bond there, and the loss of that has to increase stress.   Stress is about the biggest killer that there is for all forms of life.