Morning Surprise

... morning mist settled in laying softly over the pastures as I finished up my chores in the barn. The sun had just cleared the horizon casting a mystical glow across the planted landscape. I was quite eager to finish up the last of my chores so that I could head of for a walk through the forest preserve to do some bird watching. With such a beautiful morning I was certain that I would be able to capture some good pictures of nature as it finished waking up. As I held the hose in the water trough my mind wondered off as I started to imagine what birds I would be able to spot.

Would I see the great cranes catching there morning breakfast? Or the song birds busy at work fixing there nests from the storm? Or maybe I would see that beaver family again. I wonder how there dam is coming along? I let out a small chuckle as I remembered the last time I saw the beavers ... there was this young one carrying that huge branch and it was just way to cute!

My day dreaming suddenly came to a halt as the sound of barking dogs reached my ears. Remembering how the neighbors dogs had a history of attacking our goats I was instantly set on edge. With the mist still laying heavy on the field I was unable to see just how close they were ... but it sounded to close for comfort. After carefully scanning things over I was able to see our goats close to the barn. The barking became more intense as they were obviously on the chase. I automatically assumed that they had simply found a muskrat or something in our creek and figured that I would chase them off of our land when I finished watering.

These thoughts vanished my mind when I heard a very distressed "maaaa!!". My heart stopped as the distressed maaing turned into a blood curdling scream of "MAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "BARKEDY-BARK-BARK!" I dropped the hose and started running as fast as I could towards the attack dogs. My feet kept slipping on the dewy grass as I ran and my heart beat faster and faster as the "maaing" began to stop.

As I approached the bloody scene I was able to get the dogs off of the goat kid ... ... Oh wait! This isn't a goat kid ... it's a fawn!I slowly picked up the terrified thing and examined it for any breaks or tears.

Amazingly enough it only had some small teeth marks on it's head and ear. Things were a bit bloody ... but it actually looked pretty good. I set it back down in the grass and began to walk home. Growing up around nature I knew better than to bring it home. I felt confident that it's Mother would find it. Does often leave there young for up to 6hrs at a time as they forage for food. As I glanced up I saw the dogs near by. I tired to chase them home but to no avail. I glanced back at the trembling fawn and said "Oh, okay! But just for a little while!" I picked the poor thing up and carried it off for home where it stayed for just a few moments until it had calmed down and the dogs had left. Then we carried it back down to where I found it. I am happy to report that later that day a doe deer was spotted down by where we placed it. :)