Deer Pictures:
Baby Deer Swims Across Collins Lake

Deer pictures prove it: Ava Turner spotted a young fawn swimming across Collins Lake during a visit with her family years ago. Here's her story with a few photos to prove that deer really do swim.

Collins Lake is a pretty little fresh water lake up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Yuba County, north of Sacramento. Created as a man-made reservoir in the 1960s, its purpose was to provide irrigation water to the Browns Valley and Loma Rica areas.

Concessions for recreation, fishing, and camping started in 1967 and continue to this day.

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Deer Pictures: Baby Deer Swimming at Collins Lake
by Ava Turner of Sacramento, California

"Growing up in Sacramento wasn't without wildlife but I'll always remember my first trip to Collins Lake, up in the California Gold Country. 

"We used to camp up near Grass Valley but my dad had just bought a used fishing boat and we heard the trout fishing was really good.

"The very first day out we were trolling by the dam when we saw some strange animal swimming across the half mile stretch. 

"We didn't know what it was at first but as we got closer we saw that it was a baby deer. 

"I didn't even know they could swim!

"We followed it at about 50ft and watched it climb out of the water, obviously weak but rejoining a parent who had presumably swum across earlier.

"My dad kept talking about how a big bass could have swallowed the fawn whole. 

"I've gone back to Collins Lake a few times since then but I've never seen a deer even attempt that swim again. 

"Occasionally I still read their fishing reports at Collins Lake, just to see if someone has gotten a picture of the swimming deer but I think it was a once in a lifetime event."

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Deer Pictures: Thanks to Ava for Sharing Her Story

Ava, thanks so much for sharing this story from your youth with us and with our readers. These are the kinds of tales that bring Northern California alive for those who have never been here, or have never had the opportunity to experience what you did.

The thought of deer swimming intrigued me because, like you, I didn't know they could swim, so I went on the hunt for deer pictures that would prove you weren't just spinning yarns, LOL. Here are a couple more that I found online:

Apparently this one didn't want to get its tootsies wet.

As you can see by the photos, Gary Robertson is a very gifted wildlife photographer! Thanks to him and Bryant Olson for sharing their pics on Flickr!

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