It’s that time of year when white-tailed deer fawns are showing up in yards and hayfields, and concerned citizens want to know how to help.

In almost all cases, the best way to help is to simply give the fawn space and leave it alone, a release from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries stated.

Concerned people sometimes pick up animals that they think are orphaned. Most such “orphans” that well-intentioned citizens “rescue” every spring should have been left alone. Most wild animals will not abandon their young, but they do leave them alone for long periods of time.

Fawns, born from May through July, are purposely left alone by their mothers. Female deer, called does, stay away from the fawns to avoid leading predators such as dogs or coyotes to their location. The white-spotted coat camouflages a fawn as it lies motionless in vegetation. Young fawns generally will not try to run away when they are approached.

Does will return several times each day to move...