Took Bo for a wander in bush on back of the farm after work this evening and he was ground scenting well, leading me up a ridge with a well worn game trail. He stopped and began to air scent which he usually does when the action gets hot. We sat tight as I could see about 30 odd metres up the ridge the ground flattened off a bit and there was thick bush on the wee flat spot. I didn't have a rifle with me, just a bit of a practice run for the dog and we eventually crept up closer to the spot I thought a deer would be bedded up, move a meter or so, stop, watch, listen. Each time we stopped Bo would be air scenting flat out very interested so I was sure we were about to spook an animal at any second. Eventually we were right on top of the wee flat spot and I still hadn't made out an animal, Bo wouldn't move forward with me, choosing instead to keep staring intently with one front leg in a weak point (he does point but not strongly as it's not in his breed) and slowly wagging his tail, I could almost see he was frustrated with me but I couldn't for the life of me tell what had him so interested. I thought maybe he was onto a possum in the crown fern which pissed me off as I have done quite a bit of possum adversion training with him as he went through a period of tracking possum runs but have eliminated that now.
I came out of "sneaky mode" and returned to a full standing position then noticed one of the ferns moving about a bit, bloody hell this stupid dog must have got me in on a possum or a hare or something I thought. I moved forward half expecting a hare or possum to explode from the ferns but there was no exploding... Only a tiny little fawn bedded down where mum had left him/her, it must have only been a few days old and was doing its best to lay as flat as it could. I looked back at Bo who was still frozen up but made eye contact with me like "well?"
"Good boy" I told him then we turned and made our retreat, I didn't let him come up and sniff/see the fawn, I'm not sure if I should have.
I've seen slightly late/early ones before but this one seems a bit out of whack. Wondering how common it is for a doe to give birth at a completely "wrong" time of year?
