RE: She Just Picked It Up, and Now Its In My House!
So glad the mom came back, it looked awfully young.
Found this info on internet:
During the first few weeks of life, does only associate with their fawns briefly usually at sunrise and sunset with fawns nursing only 2 or 3 times a day. Fawns select their own bedding location away from its mother and move this hiding place frequently (all by itself). The doe is usually within about 90 meters of her resting fawn and makes contact only to nurse.
Because of this limited interaction with its mother the first few weeks of life, people often think fawns are abandoned. Our advice should always be “Don’t touch that baby!” While I’m sure there may be some evidence for rejection by the doe if a human handles her young, it is minimal. Given her investment, once the bond between mother and young is formed, it is unlikely to be broken even by a stinky human.
But bad things happened when people mess with wildlife – like imprinting. A doe will imprint upon her fawns in a few hours. If this critical period is interrupted, the imprinting process breaks down and may lead to abandonment. But, fawns take several days or longer to imprint on mom. During this interim, fawns risk being attracted to almost any large moving object – even people. That’s why does are secretive and aggressive during fawn rearing.
So glad you somehow did the right thing.
Thanks for sharing.