Sunday, July 21, 2013

“Every dog must have his day”

(as published in the Mountain Gazette, July 18, 2013, p. 1)

(Quote by Jonathan Swift) Every once and a while a story comes along that just warms your heart. You see the good in the world and forget, at least for a time, all that is so troublesome. I heard such a story the other day from my wife, which led me to call the people involved, and to put “pen to paper” as it is.

Back in mid-June, Priscilla Emerling and John Hanf looked out their window in Waterville and saw a man walking down Route 109 carrying a fly rod in one hand and a deer fawn in the other. This seemed a bit curious, even for Vermont, so they went outside to investigate.

The man carrying the fawn was Dalton Harben, a co-owner of Vermont’s own Worth Skis (www.worthskis.com). Dalton and his dog, Bo, were fly fishing the north branch of the Lamoille River when Bo started running around in a circle and barking, like Dalton said he does when he’s playing with another dog. Bo found a fawn. The fawn wasn’t sure what was going on and jumped into the rain-swollen river at a section of water with some small rapids. Bo went in the water right after the fawn. Dog and fawn were swept a couple hundred feet down the river. Dalton said that Bo, who is a strong swimmer, caught up to the fawn and was pushing his shoulder into the fawn to steer it towards land. Dalton said you could tell the fawn was frightened and was trying to keep its head above water. Bo then started pulling the fawn from the nape of its neck towards shore. On shore, Bo sniffed the fawn, licked it a few times, best friends forever.

Even a little fawn can recognize a good dog! Bo, a Plott Hound, with fawn
(D. Harben photo)
After picking up the fawn, Dalton started to look around and found a doe, most likely the fawn’s mother, that had been hit and killed by a car.

While Priscilla stayed outside talking with Dalton about the rescue, John went inside to call the State Police to see what they should do with the fawn. The State Police contacted the game warden and the final verdict was – set the fawn somewhere outside and “let nature take its course.”  That sounds good and fine, except that nature’s course isn’t something you’d always like to think about when it comes to God’s youngest critters.

John decided to bring the fawn up to a field where he knew there to be a fair number of doe with the hope that the fawn would be adopted. So he, Dalton, and, of course, Bo drove the fawn up to the field. John and Dalton set the fawn in the field and walked away…followed by the fawn. John set the fawn down again, lightly touching its head. He said as soon as he pressed on the fawn’s head it lay down and stayed in place.

John came back the next day to check on the fawn. He located it about 40 yards away from where he first lay it down. He saw several does in the woods near the field and there were fresh deer paths through the meadow. When John tried to touch the fawn to check its health, it bleated and ran about 20 yards and lay down. The does watched from the woods.

The third day John went to check on the fawn it was not to be found in the field. There were lots of deer tracks and no signs of predation. So, since I am the storyteller, we will assume that the fawn was adopted and everyone lived happily ever after. In fact, several weeks after the fawn was released by John and Dalton, Priscilla saw a doe with two fawns that were clearly of a different age. Happy ending, I say yes.

Nature’s course isn’t always the straightest or most gentle path(D. Harben photo)
Special thanks to Dalton, John, and Priscilla for sharing this story with me. Unfortunately, Bo still has not returned my phone calls, so I’ll have to take Dalton’s word for his side of the story. I leave you with another quote; this one from Gene Hill – one of my favorite outdoor writers. “Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about little puppies.” I’m not sure how it is relevant, but it makes me smile.

Send me your stories and I’m still hoping to receive some photos, game or regular camera. Send me your best photos with some background information – general area the picture taken (unless it is a trophy animal), time of year, etc. I’ll include the best ones in to the Mountain Gazette over the next several issues. E-mail me at kristopher@sportingafield.net.

Please visit www.sportingafield.blogspot.com for more news, musings, and interviews or to leave questions or comments.

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