THE HAY LOFT DEER

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a young family who lived back in the bush of rural Ontario. The father and mother had cleared some land and used the trees to build a small log cabin and a barn for some animals. They planned to be what became known as Mixed Farmers; growing crops and having some animals.

At first they had to plant their crops around the many tree stumps but as the years advanced they cleared more land for the crops. During these years along came two daughters, Maddy and Lauren. They liked to help around the little farm feeding the chickens, milking the cow and tending the little garden which was enclosed by stones that daddy had picked up while clearing some cropland. Due to the wild deer that lived in the neighbourhood mom and dad had erected a fence or the deer would eat all the peas and beans. Not to mention the carrot tops. The stones helped keep the groundhogs away as well.

Because the house was tiny the girls spent a lot of time out of doors and in the barn where the animals lived. In the colder months the barn animals provided some warmth with their body heat and the girls liked to feed them.

Daddy had cut some marsh hay for bedding for the livestock. It was good for bedding but not so much for eating as it was of little nutritional value. For food Daddy and Mommy had cut hay and then stored it in the upper loft of the barn, sometimes called a hay mow. To get up to the hay loft Daddy had built some stairs. So, in the winter months when the snow forced the animals inside, the girls just had to climb the stairs to get at the hay. They also kept some oats up there as well to add some variety to the hay. In fact, the animals liked the oats so much that during the year if you put some oats in a pail, shook it to make a noise and called Elsie the cow, for example, she would come running for the treat.

One spring, after most of the winter’s snows had melted away, Maddy and Lauren saw a baby fawn deer all covered in spots and it was all alone. Daddy explained that the spots meant it was a new baby deer and that was why when it walked it looked like it was on stilts. Mommy explained that the fawn was alone because its mother, the doe deer, was away grazing for food so it could feed her baby. The doe had left her fawn in a safe, secure place where it would be safe from harm. The air around the fawn would wash away any scent so predators such as a coyote would not smell it. Usually the doe would feed her fawn early during the dawning of the day and later at night during dusk.

And so, it was best to leave the fawn alone and just watch it during the day. To bother the fawn might scare it and make it move away or the doe might be too frightened to come near.

One year Maddy and Lauren, like their parents, noticed that one fawn, after a while, appeared to be missing its mom. For days noone saw the doe. What had happened to her?

Eventually, when it appeared that the doe was no longer visiting her fawn at feeding time, or any time, Mommy and Daddy decided that they should step in and help it by feeding it. They tried cow’s milk from their Jersey milk cow, a common breed at that time; and then goat’s milk from their milk goat. The fawn seemed to prefer the goat milk and continued to be healthy and grow. As the snows of winter gave way to the warmer sunshine of spring and green plants started to make an appearance the fawn began to graze and add to her diet for when older she, like her mother before her, would also be a doe.

Living in the bush wasn’t easy. Mom and Dad worked from before first light to after last light and although the life was mostly fun and games for the girls it became apparent to Mom and Dad that they couldn’t stay forever. For one thing raising money to pay for the farm taxes wasn’t easy and as the girls grew they would have many needs that would require a steady income of money. Also, if they needed to see a doctor or a dentist they would have to travel afar and, of course, that would cost more money. And so, at some point, Mommy and Daddy agreed that they had to move away where they could earn a living and be near other people. Also, in the meantime, little brother Josh was born.

But, what about the pet fawn that had now grown to be a yearling doe? Well, although she was used to the girls she was still a wild animal that came and went as she wished. Daddy and Mommy said that they should never try to tame a wild animal and the girls learned to care for their fawn as she grew but not to crowd her so she could learn to survive in the wild bush on her own as a wild deer and not someone’s pet.

When the day came to move away Daddy drove a hardwood stake into the ground to keep the barn door open for he knew that the fawn would then be able to find shelter and food inside.

Many, many years later, a retired man and wife were out for a drive. They liked to travel off the beaten path of regular highways and go along bush roads, sometimes mere pathways slowly crawling through the growing bush. During one of these days when they were exploring they came upon a clearing where they parked their car and went for a walk up a hill. The wife was first to the top and she stopped abruptly telling her husband that there was something to see and to be quiet!

That’s when they saw three doe deer. Two were grazing like a milk cow and the other was gazing at the heavens. Then a small spikehorn deer came out of the barn. He must have scented the married couple for in no time the three deer bounded away and out of sight.

After that they saw a small log cabin and a barn. The cabin was all boarded up so that they couldn’t see inside; they noticed where a small garden had once been surrounded by rocks and then they saw that the barn door was kept open by a stake that had been driven into the ground; which made them curious. Were the wild deer living in the barn?

The man and his wife wandered over to take a look. At first it was dark to their eyes but as they cautiously and quietly entered the barn their eyes slowly adjust to the light and they could see four stalls that had been used for some barn animals and also a set of stairs. The man and wife decided that upstairs was probably used to store hay and other feed for the livestock. The wife noticed hoof prints from the deer on the steps and suggested that maybe the deer went upstairs to sleep.

The man decided to investigate and began to climb the stairs to see if his wife was correct. Suddenly he stopped, turned and whispered, “Watch out in case a deer jumps over my head and heads for the wild blue yonder.”

Shortly thereafter a sudden flurry of wings flew at him making him almost lose his balance and fall off the stairs. The man had instinctively raised his arms to protect himself but of course he was too late and one of a bird’s wings hit him in the eye temporarily blinding him.

“Where did that eagle go?” he asked.

“It was just a Hoot owl, not much bigger than a pigeon,” replied the wife.

“Sure,” the man thought; “I still think it was an eagle,” but he wasn’t about to debate his thoughts.

He continued to follow the hoof prints that were embedded in the wooden stairs to the top. “You won’t believe this,” his called down. “The floor is all polished from the deer rolling around and sleeping here,” I guess.

He really didn’t have to say a thing because his wife had carefully followed her husband and she could see that there was no hay in the loft but her keen scent of smell told her that deer had been living there.

Eventually the couple decided to head for home thoroughly satisfied with their outting. At home they told friends of their discovery but when their friends asked for proof they provided none so, like all doubting Thomases their friends did not believe their story.

However, the man and wife would buy bags of oats for the deer and they made certain that their friends saw the oats – before taking them out to the farm for the deer. Eventually some of their friends said, “We never doubted that you were telling us the truth and not a tall tale.”

Based upon a true story.

Vocabulary: Hayloft – where hay is stored inside.