Thread: For those who have reared fawns

Could have caught a couple of fallow fawns in the last day or two. The kids would think it was pretty cool to go with the lambs and calves.
Do they really turn into "dogs"? Do they respect normal 8 wire fences as pets?

@7mmwsm might have some experience on this...

Pet goats don’t respect fences or yards so I doubt pet deer would!

I have a feeling that technically you need a permit to keep or farm deer, and it’s a no-no in areas considered to not have a wild deer population (eg Northland).

Originally Posted by Nakivet

Could have caught a couple of fallow fawns in the last day or two. The kids would think it was pretty cool to go with the lambs and calves.
Do they really turn into "dogs"? Do they respect normal 8 wire fences as pets?

@Nakivet
Fawns are a lot of work, every time you feed them you have to wipe there bum, males can turn nasty. I raised a red hind fawn last year, we ended up re homer her for the fact she would end up getting shot from spot lighters next to the house where i live. She lives behind a 8 wire fence with one top up wire and a four rail fence on one side. Hasn't jumped out yet. Does get legs up on rail. Will stomp smaller dogs and gave it to a kid couple weeks ago i was told. the kid was a little shit and deserved it apparently.
While it was a cool pet and hard case when it got to the evening and it wanted to play it would call out for a feed. We set up a sun shade in the chook run and it would go park up in the long grass and bull rushes in the shade during the day.

As stated they are a lot of work.You need good fencing and if not right beside your house often get spotlighted when older.You can keep stags but don't keep them entire,rubber ring used on lambs works a treat.That said they are pretty cool pets,remarkably clever when they want to be.

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Mate of mine had a Jap stag they hand reared. Had all the appropriate deer fencing etc etc (he was a deer farmer after all). Was really neat about the house and nearby garden as a youngster. Used to be fed by hand with treats etc. Then one day when he was about 3 in the middle of the roar his wife was walking past the pen. She would have been 400mm-half a meter away from deer netting. Stag charged so hard his wife was punctured in multiple places by his 8 point head, as he hit the fence that hard it gave enough for her to be seriously injured. Bang flop. End of pet.

Thanks everybody for your input. Sounds like a bit more admin than rearing pet calves/lambs.
Fully aware of the risk of any "pet" with its testicles intact whether it is a ram, bull or stag.
We have tight 8 wire fences with full batten and post and rail fences so sounds like we might be right in that regard if giving it a go
Cheers again

Mate of mine had a red stag for several years. He hand reared it after cutting from the womb of its mother. It lived in the house, was a great pet when it was young and was often seen driving around with the wife in the front of the ute with its head out the window.

Once it was mature it was a bit of a handful in the yards and you DEFINITELY didn't go near him during the roar, but for the rest of the time it was quite friendly. You still had to be wary. I think he was 7 when they got rid of him.

My advice is unless it's a genuine orphan then leave it alone, mum will always raise it better than you will and pest or not stealing it's fawn for kicks is probably a highly stressful occurrence (*waits for "but you're a dairy farmer" comments...)
In saying that I do think one would make a pretty neat pet. Knew a fella that had a fallow fawn and it lived inside the house, trouble was it thought it was welcome in any building the rest of its life so open doors were fair game.
Starting to see a few around here with fawns now, I do wonder what I would do if I found an orphan., on the one hand I would also think it would make a neat pet, but also trying to bring up a pup and don't want it to mess with his training..?

I have raised three fawns (two hinds and one stag) that were all abandoned by first time mothers. Here is a pic of the first with my daughter (now almost 23)

Take my advice and don’t do it. Very cute when you start out but one day they will turn nasty when you least expect it and someone will get hurt.

Keep it till its big enough to feed the familly a few times.
They are pretty but can be dangerous.

I have 3 Fallow that i raised over the last year, if you want them to be as tame as a dog then you need to C section them from the Doe or get them in the first few days, 2 of mine are pick ups and even though i can hand feed them the are still wary of me, the one i C sectioned is basically a Labradeer and would rather be with people or our dogs than the other deer, they are all behind normal sheep fencing but 1 got a fright a few nights ago and jumped out and did not come back for 24hrs, my advise would be to top up the fencing, they are cool pets but very demanding for the first 4 months.

Originally Posted by XR500

Mate of mine had a Jap stag they hand reared. Had all the appropriate deer fencing etc etc (he was a deer farmer after all). Was really neat about the house and nearby garden as a youngster. Used to be fed by hand with treats etc. Then one day when he was about 3 in the middle of the roar his wife was walking past the pen. She would have been 400mm-half a meter away from deer netting. Stag charged so hard his wife was punctured in multiple places by his 8 point head, as he hit the fence that hard it gave enough for her to be seriously injured. Bang flop. End of pet.

Sounds like the perfect pet, I can think of a couple people who would be perfect 'parents' for such a pet.

Why?

It’s never ended well in my experience and not been worth it. I say that having never actually raised a deer myself of course. But I’ve sat on the sideline and watched the wives and kids of cockies have a go with orphan deer and it’s never worked out long-term. Almost always results in the bloke in the arrangement walking out one evening having cracked the shits and shooting it after somethings gone badly wrong.

It’s been the same in Australia with feral horse foals, wallabies and kangaroos, feral goats... calves from scrub cattle (fark that... crazy buggers) and even a few donkeys up in the Northern Territory. What do you call a baby donkey? Fucked if I know. But that didn’t work either. I think there comes a point with all these creatures no matter how familiar they look, and them being relatively recent descendants of domesticated animals, that the inbred respect for human is pretty much gone and they just want to do their own thing. And if you weigh 400kg or have horns - or both - and want to share the same space as someone’s kids, it can end quite badly.

I say don’t do it from the get go to avoid the risk of injury, damage and as a minimum the inevitable disappointment that will come.

The only creatures I’ve seen succeed being tamed to the point where they are actually pleasant to have around are feral pigs. Trapped at a young age and put in a good pen and fed well, and they soon get the message and seem to be the only creatures that learn quickly enough that being a dickhead is not in their interest. I say this though as someone who doesn’t hesitate to shoot the ones that don’t show the right inclination pretty much immediately, to be fair of the trapped pigs we’ve put through the pen probably only 50% make it.

You've got to spend plenty time with them when young, have noisy kids play with them etc etc. Honestly the best pets ever, we've had 2 of them.
They are hardwork at first with feeding and wiping arse etc but definitely worth it.
First one was a little fallow hind, I had 15 farm dogs at the time she would come mustering all day with me all round the station. Jump in dams, creeks with the dogs. Go for runs with the kids, sleep on the couch, play with the lab. Unfortunately died at 4 years old after choking on a pear one night, kids were gutted! Rearing another one atm only a week old