After providing awe and some anguish, baby deer departs | Theodore Decker

I no longer have a legit excuse to blow off the lawn mowing.

But at least the kids won't be grousing about the lack of central air once the hot weather returns.

Last week, I wrote about an unexpected visitor to my yard. Early on the morning of May 29, we discovered a white-tailed deer fawn tucked against the retaining block wall in our front yard.

At first it was comically adorable, the way she — and as noted in my previous column, I have no legitimate reason to brand her a "she" — thought she was hiding in plain sight.

Eventually she relocated to our backyard, where she wedged herself between our foundation and our central air unit. We didn't want to scare her off, so that meant no air for those few hot days last week, which drew increased grumbling from our own offspring as the days wore on.

But that's where the fawn stayed, as the novelty of her arrival was overtaken by our concern for her well-being.

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Since that column ran on Thursday, I've received a steady stream of reports from readers offering advice and sharing similar experiences. Many just wanted an update.

Well, here it is: The fawn is gone.

She left sometime in the night last week, I'm thinking during or immediately after thunderstorms rolled through on Wednesday night.

So is this a happy ending?

I like to think so. I have conflicting evidence, but I'm choosing to stay positive.

I don't know why it took me so long to think of this, but on Night No. 3 I remembered that I own a trail camera. Why not fasten it to my deck and see if our fawn is receiving any after-dark visitors?

I retrieved the chip the next morning. Lo and behold, there was an adult deer, front and center, standing beside the bird feeders that were about 10 feet from the fawn's resting spot.

My wife and I were delighted. This couldn't be a coincidence!

Except maybe it was. I looked at the grainy pictures again and noticed there was something screwy about the deer's head.

It looked like she had four ears.

Dang it. Two of them, I realized, were budding antlers. This was a young buck I was looking at. He wasn't babysitting; he was checking out the bird seed buffet.

Upon even closer examination, I noticed there was a second deer in the background. This was, best as I could tell, a doe. Mom, perhaps, hanging back until the buck moved on?

I was still poring over the footage when I happened to glance outside. It was 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, and there was a doe standing on the edge of our property, looking in the direction of the hidden fawn.

Now this had to be a good sign.

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I rushed to get my wife. We watched from an upstairs window. The doe didn't move. We took our eyes off her only briefly, and when we looked again, she was gone.

Unfortunately, the fawn wasn't. She stayed put all day.

The fawn also had curled ear tips. That, we were advised by a volunteer of the Ohio Wildlife Center — as well as a few astute readers who studied the pictures that ran with my column — was a sign that the fawn was dehydrated and possibly not being cared for.

Shoot.

About 10 p.m. on Wednesday, after the storms had passed, I went out back to set up the trail cam for a second night. I noticed the fawn wasn't in her usual spot behind the air conditioning unit.

It had rained heavily, though. I figured she'd had the good sense to take shelter under the leaves of the massive hosta beside her.

At sunrise, I still didn't see her. I pulled the SD card from the trail cam. Not a thing had moved all night.

I slowly looked under the hosta, then checked my back and front yards.

Nope, she was gone.

Did mom come and get her right before or during those storms?

I sure hope so. My daughter saw a doe in our yard again on Saturday morning. So we know there is at least one possible mom regularly making the rounds.

But those curled ear tips are still nagging at me.

Your reassurances have helped.

"My family and I have also enjoyed many fawns in our yard over the years," wrote Bob Kiebel of Alexandria, Licking County. "We too have altered our routines so as not to disturb them. My son is a State Wildlife Officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and he saves many fawns from being taken captive by well-meaning people each June."

Ann Burk, who has a fawn in her Worthington yard this year, also cautioned people not to "help," tempting as that may be.

"This morning in our yard, we had both mama, papa and (a second) fawn having our hostas for breakfast," she wrote. "They are beautiful creatures, but it is NOT a good idea to intervene."

Sharon Richwine lives near OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital and has had fawns turn up in her yard more than once. She worried too, but eventually was treated to seeing them frolic with mom.

"An unusual experience for someone that thought they were living in the city," she wrote. "To witness the excitement of watching the WILD animals share my space."

And it was exciting, while it lasted.

I'd love to know, of course, that our little visitor is OK. But life is rarely that neat and tidy.

Still, I might keep the trail cam going, just in case on some summer night she decides to pay her human hosts a visit.

tdecker@dispatch.com

@Theodore_Decker

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Suburban wildlife: Fawn departs yard unseen to uncertain future