What are the chances?! First, to have a fawn swimming in the water in front of your cabin (pretty rare). Second, to be awake and armed with a cell phone camera at 5:30 in the morning (also rare). And third, to have a bald eagle swoop in and take out the fawn while you are filming…exceptionally rare! In fact, this is the first documented event of a bald eagle preying on a live white-tailed deer.
According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Julie Smith was filming the swimming fawn from her cabin deck on Lake Noquebay near Crivitz, Wisconsin when an unsuspected eagle came swooping into the frame. Watch the unbelievable scene unfold in the video below. After the eagle drowned the fawn, it dragged it to shore and fed on the carcass for the next three days.