About Us

Many deer are lost in San Diego due to collisions with automobiles. Traffic accidents are one of the main reasons fawns are orphaned or injured. Seeing a need to care for these orphaned fawns lead to the creation of San Diego Fawn Rescue in 2013, by Shawnie Williams. Volunteers with this organization are trained in low-stress capture, rehabilitation, and proper care and feeding of these delicate animals. Human contact and interaction are kept to a minimum to avoid Capture Myopathy, and so the fawns won’t imprint on people. In a typical year, San Diego Fawn Rescue cares for three to seven fawns. Fawns are kept together because that is how they learn to be deer. Medical attention is provided when needed, and fawns are exposed to the foods they will need to eat in the wild. When the fawns reach approximately four months of age, they return to the wild with the herd of fawns they have lived with, which gives them the best chance for survival.

If you are anywhere in San Diego County, and you come across a fawn that needs help, call San Diego Fawn Rescue at 858-603-0170 or 760-443-9697. A volunteer will be there quickly, and will provide the fawn with the best chance to grow into the beautiful deer that we enjoy seeing in our wildlands.

You can read more about Shawnie and San Diego Fawn Rescue in this San Diego Union Tribune article.

Mule deer are one of California's most iconic forest animals. Help us preserve them.

Mule Deer

Hearing is the deer’s most highly developed sense. Their large ears which resemble those of the mule, gave this deer its name.

Mule deer flee by stotting, or bounding in huge hops using all four feet at once. They can reach speeds of 45 miles per hour for short distances.

Deer generally live from six to ten years. A deer lives in an area of about one square mile, and typically remains in that area throughout its lifetime. During times of drought, food and water become more difficult to find. This often causes the deer to wander farther than its normal range, and often requires it to cross busy roads. Car strikes are a major reason that fawns become orphaned.

There are six kinds of mule deer in California, which all belong to the same species. They are the Columbian black-tailed deer, the California mule deer, Rocky Mountain mule deer, Southern mule deer, Inyo mule deer, and the Burro mule deer. The only deer found in San Diego is the Southern mule deer, which ranges from San Diego to Orange and Western Riverside Counties.

The most essential vitamins and nutrients for a deer are available in green forage, the new growth of the plants. Deer must have a large variety of high-quality plants which include succulent twigs, new leaves, and immature grasses and weeds. Mule deer are browsers, and selective feeders, with very specific forage requirements.

A Healthy Fawn

Southern mule deer rut from September through January. Gestation is about seven months, so fawns typically arrive between April and August. More than half of fawns die within the first week after birth. Surviving fawns immediately leave the birth site, and remain motionless and hidden for the first few weeks of life. The mother always remains close by. A fawn can stand ten minutes after birth and can walk seven hours later. For the first three or four days, it is inactive, and its hooves harden during this time. After three weeks, the fawn will begin to follow its mother. Fawns stay with their mother until they are two years old.

Fawns are born with fur and open eyes. Males will begin to grow antlers at two to three months of age. Antler swellings appear at about six months of age. Antlers take about three months to be fully grown.

A deer is a ruminant. It has a specialized four-compartment stomach. Deer are herbivores, and a fawn will begin to sample grasses and dirt at one week old and will try berries, acorns, and fruit at two months. Fawns drink water at two weeks of age. A fawn will eat 5-7 pounds of food a day, and drink close to a quart of water.

A fawn must nurse until five weeks old in order for its rumen to properly develop. Fawns are weaned at about four months old. The most essential vitamins and nutrients for a deer are available in green forage, the new growth of the plants.

California's Deer Population

The Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that there are 445,000 deer in California, spread over the state’s 99 million acres. This number is down from 1.5 - 2 million in the 1960s, and 850,000 in the 1990s.

California hunting regulations allow for bucks to be hunted with a tag, but not does. This creates a disproportionate number of does to bucks in the wild, and affects the quality of the bucks that remain. CDFW generates about $25 million in revenue annually from the sale of tags. California issued 175,000 deer tags in 2017, and hunters harvested an estimated 29,000 deer. In 2021, the number of deer tags being sold by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was 249,472.

The deer population is on the decline, and is approaching historic lows. Because of the manner in which California Fish and Wildlife collect and disperse information, there are not accurate numbers on the current deer population. (See deerfriendly.com for more information)