It can be difficult to tell if young animals like mule deer learn most of their behaviors from older deer or if those actions are instinctual. (Photo by Mark Gocke/WGFD) I thought a buck might join them. There was one teenage fawn that seemed to have plenty of personality. It tried to nurse from its mother but she kicked it off the udder. There was plenty of grass to graze but the fawn wanted to nurse. The doe flicked her ears and tail and kicked in annoyance. Finally, the fawn gave up trying to nurse and began bucking and throwing its head around as it played on the hillside. During its antics the young deer lost its balance and got stuck in a sticker brush. It bleated and cried. The doe tried to ignore the fawn, but finally she approached with her ears pinned. She reared up on her hind legs and beat the heck out of the fawn, which freed itself from the sticker brush to escape its mother's beating hooves. 44 | May 2023 The fawn went off a little distance away from the other deer. After a while the doe went to the fawn and the two groomed each other. It seemed the fawn was forgiven. Did the doe teach the fawn to stay quiet or was it an instinct to protect the herd from predators coming to the distress call? Was this social behavior within the herd an instinctual behavior or was it learned? There are many behaviors among many species, and spring is one of the best times to witness any number of them. This also is a time to recognize transferred behaviors and new-learning behaviors as parents raise their young. Whether it is instinctual, transferred or an anomaly, it is all wild behavior. - Wes Uncapher is a freelance photographer and writer from central Wyoming.