Anybody ever run over a Fawn bush hogging..Uggg !

[caver]

Less than 10 feet from one lying in the grass. I did hit a big turtle once...some carnage there.

 

[searcyfarms]

sister forgot i was mowing hay in pasture, let our little dog out of the basement - i was 14 at the time - when i made my next round in the field, it was in the tall grass on a much needed potty break and the sickle mower got three legs before i yanked the hand clutch when i heard the yipe of the dog. i just off and wrapped it in the towel i carried for a sweat rag, jumped in truck with mom n headed to vet about 8 miles away, had to put her down, tractor was still running when i got home - will never forget that

 

[searcyfarms]

hit plenty of bumble bee nests mowing over the years been stung several times pretty good

hit a few rabbits and a lot of field mice, a few snakes

 

[MickeyDBC]

I had fall planted a mixed cover crop in a field trying to get it to come back to life. One of the seed mixes that was supposed to grow in phases but we did not get any rain until almost March and it went nuts. When it got to the point that we were losing the new pecan trees in the field and you could barely walk in it (hairy vetch, winter wheat, soybeans, peas, and more) I decided to shred it. I have a ten foot mower and a 73hp tractor and it was tough cutting. When I got down to the pond side of the field deer started popping up like jack in the boxes. I drove around honking the horn and making as much noise as I could and was surprised at how many deer were in there. I thought I had them all cleared out until I hit what I thought was a stump but then I saw a leg shoot out from the shredder. Turned out it was a pretty big doe that turned into a pretty big pile of shredded meat. I took a break after that. The buzzards had it cleared up within a couple of hours and my wife was none the wiser.

 

[oosik]

I don't have a PTO driven bush hog. So never anything as big as a fawn. And my Cocker Spaniel puppy is firmly entrenched in the house when I use my JD mid-mount mower.

The extent of my carnage - snakes, frogs & the occasional mouse. It DOES have high lift blades but not enough to suck pocket gophers out of their holes.

 

[Alan W.]

Hit a large groundhog. Blades were dull from the constant rocks and concrete hits around the construction sites. He sorta wrapped around one of the blades and got slung about 30 feet. Shook the whole tractor.

 

[troverman]

I hit a fawn with a flail mower a couple of years ago. I go slow and normally they pop up and wobble away. When the mower went over it, I thought I hit a log. I felt really horrible, there wasn't much left. Dragged the remains off into the treeline. I usually hit a lot of field mice, snakes, etc. Even those I try to avoid; I'll slow or stop to give them time to get away if I see them. Starting to see a lot of young turkeys hiding in the tall grass. Usually I can see the mom causing the grass to move, so I'll wait. The mom will try to come over near the tractor to be a diversion from the "nest" - it impresses me that despite how terrified she must be of a roaring tractor and mower, she's willing to sacrifice her life for her young.

 

[lman]

My brother in law has a big dairy farm in Wisconsin. He said they usually hit about 6 every year chopping hay.

 

[Threepoint]

The whitetail deer population is quite large around here. A few years ago, I was getting ready to bush-hog a neighbor's 4-acre pasture as a favor. It was overgrown with hip-high weeds, including Chinese pigweed. My wife was worried about fawns, so she and the neighbor actually walked the pasture together, about eight feet apart. Sure enough, they walked up on a fawn that was probably only a day or two old. The doe had tucked it in for safety while she went off to graze. It was able to get up and make its way to the perimeter, where it's mama joined up with it!

Walking a field first isn't realistic in most cases. About fifteen years ago, a friend's hired helper was mowing a pasture with a sickle mower when he noticed a struggling fawn. He'd cut off its leg on the previous pass. Our friend said the helper, a grizzled older gentleman who'd seen a lot in his day, came to the house with tears in his eyes, nearly inconsolable. He borrowed a gun to put the little thing down. I think of that every time I'm out mowing in tall grass.

 

[mcfarmall]

No, but I've come across several while mowing in late spring/early summer. If I spot them in time I try to shoo them out of the work area.