Thread: For those who have reared fawns

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

Fallow does and early castrate bucks make excellent pets and have never heard of a nasty one. Reds on the other hand can be quite snarky depending on their personality. Have raised plenty of both breeds. Red or Sambar stags are very dangerous at certian times of the year but a green ring when they are still very young fixes that and they never grow antlers

I put a ring on a sika stag as a fawn and he turned into a little fat barrel of lard. Dropped dead at about a year old. I presume a heart attack.