Babs,
Deer are strange animals, I saw a video once of a white-tail eating a baby bird out of a nest.
Maybe they got a thang for poultry? ;-)

Babs,
Wild...I must admit even I can't resist a good turkey chase!

The deer probably has a fawn stashed nearby. Anything that happens near is likely to be chased off. I saw one outright attack a coyote a few years back, obviously preventing it from getting to where it wanted to go. It was intent on one particular spot. Broad daylight, went on for at least 10 minutes.

I have one doe who, for the past two previous years, appears to have dropped a fawn in the same location near my apple trees. Once while working out there I looked up to see her looking at me from about 100 feet away, and actually approach me slowly before turning and bounding off, albeit rather slowly. 15 minutes later, I looked up to see that she'd silently returned, and was much, much closer to me this time. I actually approached to see how clos ethat I could get,and was amazed to get to within almost 30 feet. She, or rather a single doe, was seen many times in the next week or so in the same general area, always with much reduced fear compared to their normal behavior here at any other time of year. Presumably, this week or so is giving the fawn enough time to get some growth on it, to be able to move quickly enough to keep up, and then she's gone, with the normal frequency of sightings, and their immediate flight returning. We have seen a single doe lately, but not yet with the reduced fear. Maybe any day now.

It's very strange to see that behavior in this area, where they are normally so reserved. Mule dear often habituate to humans, and maybe even white tails in other parts of the county, but it's very unusual for them to behave so tamely in this area, in my experience.

When I lived in Colorado, some of the deer had become so accustomed to people they could be hand-fed. What a shame for the deer. There's a fancy & popular restaurant up in the foothills. On the narrow, winding road leading to the restaurant there are hundreds of deer. People stop their cars & just sit on a rock or the car's bumper. Within a couple minutes, 2, 3, 4, or 6 deer will appear out of the woods & walk right up to the people looking for handouts. I've never fed them but I have stopped & gotten some really fantastic pictures. If I just sat still they would push at my thigh with their nose & even paw the ground in an effort to tell me, "Hey, what's with you? Where's my popcorn?"

Not a good situation, at all.

Tricia

At one time we lived in a house on a hill that overlooked our pastures below surrounded by electric fencing. There we kept Scotch Highland cows and several horses. Every late spring for just one day, always during a misty/foggy afternoon rain, a large deer herd would jump the fence and play 'leap frog'. They leapt over each other. They leapt over the cows who did not appear bothered by it. They actually stood up on hind legs and whirled around. This would last for several hours and then they disappeared. The pasture could be seen by motorists driving by and we would end up with a traffic jam as people stopped to view the scene. Very unusual and I have never heard any reports of this type of deer behavior. Sadly we could not stop a developer from buying the property and it is now a dense housing development. Another oddity, I had extensive vegetable gardens just outside the pasture and the deer herd never touched them.