KELLY, Wyo. — A mother mule deer teaches her fawn how to cross rapidly moving river water while navigating the Gros Ventre River bed. Buckrail photographer Nick Sulzer witnessed the mother-fawn duo outside of Kelly on Monday, Aug. 12.
Spots on the young deer’s coat indicate that it is still a fawn. After about six months, a fawn is considered to be a yearling.
With fall soon approaching, the fawn sticks close to its mother and learns to cross waterways, rocks, steep hillsides and roadways. It can be treacherous out there for an adult mule deer, and even more so for a young one finding its legs on uneven terrain.
According to the National Park Service, mothers teach their fawns a migration route that is passed down through generations. Every fall and spring, mule deer from Grand Teton National Park can travel as short a distance as 40 miles or as far as a couple hundred miles. Along these journeys to and from their wintering grounds, they often cross a number of waterways, including large rivers such as the Gros Ventre, Snake, Yellowstone and Green rivers.
This fall, thousands of deer will migrate across public and private lands, roads, farms, towns and over mountains. Today, mule deer migration is threatened by roads, fences and new development.
