If you put dogs out into the field before cutting, would the mothers come back and take the babies to safety? Then a couple of hours later, go out to mow? Or would the dogs get the babies. This is too sad, but I know it happens…remember the thread about the strangest things found in hay? Fortunately, never had that…too distressing.
My dad has run several fawn through his mower conditioner while cutting the hayfields. It is always sad, but with that think, they are always killed pretty much instantly so no worry about a suffering animal.
On a happier note, one season, he had a fox that would follow him around the field as he cut and later baled the hay, chasing down the critters that got flushed out. That fox was a happy camper for HOURS.
As i make each pass with the tractor, I keep my ye on the rack that I will mow next. If I see anything, I stop as fast as I can and hop down and chase off the critter. I did have one fawn who hopped up as I stopped and dove under me between front and back wheels. I think he whomped his head but was otherwise OK. Just what my heart needed! 
Thank you for all the suggestions!
I mow regularly and mow as low as 5-6". The fawns don’t bed down in that. I have yet to even find a bunny nest (although the barn cats might have something to do with that)
[QUOTE=omare;8690652]
My tractor has a front end loader which I put down a bit above ground level.[/QUOTE]
I do this (also helps with our rocks who sneak around to different spots at night) – I have teeth on the front of the FEL (4 in 1 bucket), so I lower & pivot out so teeth are very close to ground. I keep adjusting with terrain (pastures definitely not flat) as I go.
I’m also a wildlife biologist, so I just don’t mow some areas during bird ground-nesting/fawn season. I have 10 acres & I know certain areas are “hotspots.” As I work in freshwater rare species, horses are obviously fenced out of creek bottomland & that’s a wildlife highway. I do have pasture running down to that fenceline, but I let it sit until, well, just mowed it Friday.
It is absolutely correct that sound will not budge fawns (otherwise the diesel tractor would be plenty sufficient, heh). I actually did flush 2 on Friday as I did a very slow periphery lap for that purpose. I am under no illusions of guarantee, but cab is open & I watch habits & trails of everyone very carefully.
Actually, my worst fear is hitting one of my snakies or turtles (or anything that doesn’t end up quickly dead & I have to dispatch), back to going really slowly in the thick stuff so they can move away from vibration. But the hawks, crows, indigo buntings, bluebirds, & vultures follow the tractor with glee!
I did tag a young Meadowlark a couple years ago. I was horrified, leaped off, grabbed him. It turned out the luckiest day of his life: the 'hog had lopped off a few of his new primaries, but when put him in a carrier to take to licensed songbird rehabber (he was miraculously otherwise uninjured), discovered a birth defect of a leg grown bent over backwards. Which was why he’d been unable to push up off the ground. So he ended up going to live the good life in bird rescue & education instead of being a snack for some lucky predator. I swear he jumped in front of me on purpose…
TL;DR – we do the best we can. In the event of an incident, know your local contacts licensed to deal with issues & know how to humanely dispatch a critically wounded animal if sadly needed. Take your time & watch each row beside you closely. I’ve even been known to carry a stick for poking suspicious grass…
I spooked a fawn out of the front pasture while mowing yesterday. It frantically ran back and forth, then hunkered down right next to the fence along the road, nestled into a tiny bit of a nook at a slight bend in the fenceline.
After it settled, there was no moving it, even when my husband walked right up to it, so there’s an un-mown swath in that area. I don’t like to let the grass get too high, due to the chance of encountering venomous snakes, but it is what it is.
Took me a long time to mow, too, while going ever so slowly, keeping my eyes peeled. Babies are popping out all over here, as this area is over-run with deer.
So wildlifer, don’t you wish there was some sort of tracking device you could put on your turtles? I’ve often thought this; being able to find them before mowing. There’s somebody out there who could figure this out. I would buy it.
I had a dog, long ago, who would point them out.
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8692986]
One thing you can do is to mow a lap or two around the edge and then go down the middle if your field is a pretty good size. A fair number of times the mommas will come fetch the babies while you are doing the center cut, it sort of flushes things toward the edges. Doesn’t always work but it helps a bit…they seem to need the noise of the tractor close to give notice you are mowing, then some peace and quiet to vacate. If you have a small field you might do a lap or two then drive to the middle and turn it off/leave the field for 10-15 minutes to give the critters a chance to leave. It might help. Nothing is perfect.
I have a hawk on my farm who always hunts when I mow. When the critters flush she waits for a nice rabbit and then swoops down in front of me and grabs dinner, then carries it to a fence post to enjoy. We had a coyote for a while that would always lurk around the field seeing what would come out of the grass. You can easily see why critters don’t flush out all that easily. They are vulnerable either way.[/QUOTE]
I have found this to work also. One of my hay fields is around 40 acres. When I was cutting it with my small 10 foot discbine I could only do around 10+ acres depending on the length of weather window.
I would encounter a fair amount of deer. After giving it some thought (have a lot of time to think about things sitting on a mower) I started cutting pretty much how you explained it. Couple of laps around the parameter and then divided the field into rough quarters. 2 cuts per “quarter” which rakes into one windrow.
When I cut the next baling windows I didn’t encounter any does/fawns. Did it this way for several years in my mind and experience it works.
I don’t bale the large fields anymore. Became too hard to find people to help unload/stack, turn around my 4 hay wagons so as to get things done quickly and not get whacked by a thunderstorm.
My neighbor has big equipment, 60’ mower, a machine that ties the small bales into 21 bale “cubes” so they can be skid loaded on the wagons and then skid loaded into my barn in no time. He also does a bunch of big squares for me. Takes ALL the stress out of the process.
We split the yield 50-50. He also fertilizes once a year with spent mushroom soil/mulch and every other year chicken litter from one of the large chicken/egg farms. We baled 150+ tons with our first cutting this year.
I’ve been mowing the perimeter first (small fields), then going elsewhere with the tractor, trying to give the babies a chance to leave. Seems as though they take my moving off as meaning it’s okay for them to remain just where they are, but that might be because the deer here are so acclimatized to humans (we don’t feed them, but more than one of our neighbors do, which we really wish they wouldn’t).
I will keep trying with the above-recommended technique.
