One of the main things I love about walking into the woods is you never know what kind of adventure you are going to find. After dinner on our 3rd night at the Old Stone Fort Campground in Tennessee, Elisha, Beast and I decided to take a walk. We hit the trail to the Blue Hole at the base of the dam and let Beast play in the water for a while. After that we headed into a mile of backwoods. The trail was wide and pretty and we saw tons of squirrels, heard many woodpeckers in the trees and nature was all around us. It was late in the evening, but we still had a couple of hours before dark. That’s when we came face to face with a truly amazing experience and a heart-breaking decision.
Elisha saw movement in front of us and said he saw a very small deer moving through the woods. We were in deep woods and it was getting darker so it took me longer to finally spot the movement, but at first I thought it was a squirrel. As I approached, I saw a baby deer that could not have been more than 1 to 2 days old. It took maybe 5-6 steps and then laid down in a small hole. Elisha held Beast while I went to check on the baby deer. The closer I got, I fully expected the baby to run or at least try to get away, but it just laid there and stared up at me with huge eyes! I knelt within a few inches of this beautiful creature and was amazed!
We looked around and Elisha thought he saw a larger deer nearby, but I did not and we didn’t hear anything! The baby deer looked very weak and maybe even sick. As it lay still, large green flies started to land on it and I swatted them away. The baby did not move at all. I had no idea what to do. I have heard different things from so many over the years about helping or not helping nature. Sometimes it is better to leave it to nature to decide if a creature lives or dies, but when you are face to face with that choice it is a much harder decision. We needed some better advice or some help to try to rescue it. We were about a mile from the ranger station in either direction, but I was afraid to leave the baby deer alone. I finally tied Beast to a tree and sent Elisha on a run down the trail to the ranger.
While Elisha was gone, Beast laid down and took a nap not really knowing what was going on. I knelt over the baby deer and swatted the flies away and talked to it. I have heard you shouldn’t touch babies in nature because the mother might not take them back, but in this case, I felt pretty sure this little baby was going to die and I did not want it to feel alone. I talked to it softly and petted it on the nose gently so as not to leave too much of my smell. The baby deer blinked those huge, sweet eyes a few times, but never moved. It was breathing slowly and did not seem to be scared. Elisha is a fast runner, but it seemed like he had been gone for a long time. Finally, he returned, but not with the ranger or the news I had hoped to hear!
I had hoped the ranger would come running and know how to help this amazing creature! I have seen so many shows on animal rescues and people saving babies in this type of situation. The ranger said to leave the baby where it was. He said the mother might come back, but otherwise, their general policy was to let nature take its course one way or the other. That may sound cold, but I guess if it is meant to be, then that is for the best. Of course, the ranger wasn’t the one that had to look the baby in the eyes and walk away. Elisha was almost in tears and wanted to carry the baby out with us. I have to admit, at first, I considered it, but then I realized that without the ranger’s help there was no way we could get it out of the woods and figure out a way to help it. Also, we were in the middle of nowhere and it was almost night time. I could imagine us taking the deer back and it dies and the poor thing ending up tossed in a dumpster or something. If it had to die, I decided it would be more humane and would be preferable to let it die in its home. Having decided to do that, it was much harder to actually carry it out.
Elisha knelt by the deer and petted it on the nose as he swatted the flies away. It was starting to get dark and I knew we had to leave. I bent down beside Elisha and moved leaves over the babies body covering it except for its head to help keep the flies off. We made it as comfortable as we could and said our goodbyes. As we retrieved Beast, who had been napping, it was very hard to walk away, but if mother nature wanted that baby to die, we did not have a right to stand in the way. We started down the trail with a final glance and a few tears in our eyes. It was a long walk back to camp and I talked to Elisha about the Circle of Life. Sometimes there are things beyond our control and life and death are often among them! It’s a tough lesson for anyone to learn, but it’s especially tough for a sensitive kid to learn. We got more out of this evening adventure in the woods than we ever expected!
However, there is more to the story…To Be Continued…
