Wild Wednesday … Don’t Even Breathe!

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black bear,black tail deer, pen and ink, drawing, wildlife

Fawns are often killed by black bears in the Spring. Right after birth, fawns know instinctively to lay perfectly still. They have almost no scent. If the fawn doesn’t move a muscle and the bear is up wind it my not see the little deer.

I have you folks to thank, or blame for this pen and ink. It’s the third version of this fawn. You can see the two previous versions in the post Wild Wednesday Fawn Redo. First was a sweet vignette, which Mary told me was lacking. So I added more detail and asked if you all preferred the simple vignette of the more complete fawn. I received lots of great feedback and the majority liked the additional detail. If more detail is good then a lot more should be great. Truth is, I kept adding more and more because I had a vision. That’s when the bear came along to add some drama. The first rendition was lackluster. Now it tells a story, so thank you Mary and all you folks who commented before. Listening to a good critique only makes us better artist and writers. Even if I grumbled about it at first.

On a side note, if I’d known it was going to morph into this final drawing, the composition would have been different. However, I think it works okay. What do you think?

30 thoughts on “Wild Wednesday … Don’t Even Breathe!”

    • Thank you so much Yvonne! It’s good to know you like the composition. I would have probably re-arranged it a bit had I known the turn I was going to take. However, I’m pretty happy with it. Creating the story in it made it much more fun to do.

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    • That’s classic. I’ve come upon many new fawns over the years that would drop and not move. Fortunately, sometimes I had my camera to capture the moment. I would always try to be quick, because mom was usually nearby and pitching a fit. They are so small and fragile. I’d want to pick them up and give them a cuddle. Although, I would never do that.

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    • Thank you Bruce! Funny thing about those bears, their eyesight isn’t very good especially if you’re very still. However, their sense of smell is second to none in the woods. They see better with their noses than their eyes!

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  12. Splendid, and improved from the earlier drawings which would be fine not knowing you had this more to go in it. I love what you’ve done with the leaves, the depth they add, the complexity, and the two predators–bee and bear. You also capture the distinct differences between species. Well done.
    And thanks for the information, I have lived in a lot of places with deer and bear for neighbors and didn’t know the fawns did this. How different from Quail, who are busy road-runners when threatened.

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    • So glad you approve of the changes Barbara. When I look at the first rendition it seems like I phoned it in. Everybody gave me some good input, so I played with it until I had a spark of inspiration. Then it really go fun.

      The fawns will lay still to avoid the predators only for a few days after birth. After that they just run and boy howdy do they. Then they’re a little streak of lightning!

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