I’d bet this is someone’s “pet” deer that they don’t want shot and are trying to signal that. I’ve heard of people putting reflective collars and things like that on deer that they’ve kept as pets, to try to deter hunters from shooting them.
If that’s what it is then I totally get the impulse to help a wild animal yourself, but the average person VASTLY overestimates their knowledge of what wildlife needs to be healthy. Always contact a wildlife rehabber if you find wildlife in distress!
And then there’s the dude I ran into at a bonfire a couple months ago talking about how he got a deer to trust him enough to come on his property and let him hand feed it and the instant deer season starts he was going to shoot it.
I’d bet this is someone’s “pet” deer that they don’t want shot and are trying to signal that. I’ve heard of people putting reflective collars and things like that on deer that they’ve kept as pets, to try to deter hunters from shooting them.
If that’s what it is then I totally get the impulse to help a wild animal yourself, but the average person VASTLY overestimates their knowledge of what wildlife needs to be healthy. Always contact a wildlife rehabber if you find wildlife in distress!
And then there’s the dude I ran into at a bonfire a couple months ago talking about how he got a deer to trust him enough to come on his property and let him hand feed it and the instant deer season starts he was going to shoot it.
That would definitely explain how they got it on the deer in the first place.
Deer are pretty easy to socialize. Start with salt lick.
Putting a collar on a wild animal to protect it from being shot is a pretty pathetic attempt at protecting something you care about.
I’d put a high vis jacket on my kids, but I wouldn’t then send them off to play in traffic.