We were walking along a forest trail not far from home when the Bear started sniffing urgently around a bush-covered stump. I glanced somewhat randomly at where he was poking and spotted these two ears (Image-1)! I spotted the light brown fur with white spots behind the ears and noticed slight movement. I suspected this fawn was playing dead. It was curled up in the indentation of a long-ago-logged stump; the indentation had moss and sprouting flora which apparently made a comfortable little bed.

After doing a careful check around to see if the fawn had any back-up (we did not want any confrontation with an angry mom) and securing Bear away from the scene, I took this first image and, after several minutes while nothing seemed to be happening, the fawn woke up. It wasn’t playing dead: it was simply taking a nap. I then got the second picture, quickly retreating to keep from upsetting the youngster and minimize any chance that Bear would get involved. The animal was no more than ten feet at any time and we never saw it again as we made our way back home.

Earlier in the week on a different trail, we came upon a young buck (Image-3: note the antler stubs) proceeding along his own trail. We stared at each other for a minute while I was able to get the camera going and then I made too much movement and he bolted.