Fawns late in the year

[MaxJac]

Those two guys showed up with their mother about two weeks ago in our neighborhood. Since about a week, they are without their mother but seem to do well, even without nursing. The picture was taken on Sunday.

Found a third one yesterday morning roadside, just hit by a car but still alive. Called the Sheriff's office to dispatch it as it was in city limits and one can't discharge a fire arm. They came within 10 minutes and took care of it.

It seems the rut was late in December/January. Have not seen any fawns earlier, these are the first ones I see in my neighborhood.

 

[SnakeEater]

Those two guys showed up with their mother about two weeks ago in our neighborhood. Since about a week, they are without their mother but seem to do well, even without nursing. The picture was taken on Sunday.

Found a third one yesterday morning roadside, just hit by a car but still alive. Called the Sheriff's office to dispatch it as it was in city limits and one can't discharge a fire arm. They came within 10 minutes and took care of it.

It seems the rut was late in December/January. Have not seen any fawns earlier, these are the first ones I see in my neighborhood.

Sounds like secondary rut offspring. Doe that don’t get bred during the first rut and yearling doe that don’t reach a mature weight will often come into estrus a month or so after the primary rut.


Sent from parts unknown

 

[swampsnyper]

Just got my 1st fawn on camera. The pregnant does belly’s shrunk the last week of July here in alabama.

 

[denots]

Sounds like secondary rut offspring. Doe that don’t get bred during the first rut and yearling doe that don’t reach a mature weight will often come into estrus a month or so after the primary rut.


Sent from parts unknown

Our primary rut is in January. This is common in south Louisiana

 

[SnakeEater]

Our primary rut is in January. This is common in south Louisiana

That’s crazy man, I’m in DeRidder LA and I shot 3 buck in 5 days in Nov because they were rutting like crazy over here. Passed on 4 smaller ones too because they cam to the mock scrapes I made with doe estrous scents in them. One buck I shot was hot on a doe that came past me.


Sent from parts unknown

 

[Nutterbuster]

That’s crazy man, I’m in DeRidder LA and I shot 3 buck in 5 days in Nov because they were rutting like crazy over here.


Sent from parts unknown

Here in alabama depending on the area you can have rut in November or February. It took years for our state department to acknowledge it.

Supposedly its because we imported deer back when the populations were low, and they kept their native rut. Maybe. I think the long summers and mild springs also make it less imperative for a fawn to be born at a certain time to survive.

 

[OspreyZB]

A couple years ago my buddy shot a doe in September that was pregnant with a single fawn. She would have been bred some time in March.

 

[SnakeEater]

Here in alabama depending on the area you can have rut in November or February. It took years for our state department to acknowledge it.

Supposedly its because we imported deer back when the populations were low, and they kept their native rut. Maybe. I think the long summers and mild springs also make it less imperative for a fawn to be born at a certain time to survive.

I’m not saying I don’t believe it could have been the primary rut just later than most places but I saw a secondary rut here late Jan which is why I said that. I know the Louisiana rut map or whatever ya wanna call it online shows a huge difference in the rut times just in LA alone.


Sent from parts unknown

 

[Tapeworm]

Here in central FL I can can drive 45 min East and kill bucks chasing does in mid Sept

In Late Jan & 1st half of Feb i can drive 1 hr West and kill bucks chasing does

Fawn births are all over the place statewide but fairly consistent within small regions


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SnakeEater]

Here in central FL I can can drive 45 min East and kill bucks chasing does in mid Sept

In Late Jan & 1st half of Feb i can drive 1 hr West and kill bucks chasing does

Fawn births are all over the place statewide but fairly consistent within small regions


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah man that’s wild, but good for you. Focus on different areas and hunt the rut way longer than most people are able to. Come to think of it I may have to do some research and do some drive around hang and hunts to different parts of the state for some prolonged rut hunting..


Sent from parts unknown

 

[kyler1945]

Thinking of “the rut” as a concrete tangible thing will not do much good.

Does go into heat at the time best suited to rear fawns once they’re born. Harsh winters create the need for selective pressures to be more precise. Does don’t “know” this with their little pea brains. The genes of the ones who get it right pass that formula to their offspring. Those who don’t get it right get frozen underfed fawns. If the does are in a climate/environment that doesn’t penalize them for being imprecise with when they go into heat, things will get more fuzzy.

best we can tell, the leading contributors to does going into estrous are genes, Exposure of the eye to a certain amount of daylight, and it to a less direct degree - weather in the Specific year.

 

[SnakeEater]

Lol apparently I’m the only one on here that’s not a deer biologist...


Sent from parts unknown

 

[Bwhana]

Thinking of “the rut” as a concrete tangible thing will not do much good.

Does go into heat at the time best suited to rear fawns once they’re born. Harsh winters create the need for selective pressures to be more precise. Does don’t “know” this with their little pea brains. The genes of the ones who get it right pass that formula to their offspring. Those who don’t get it right get frozen underfed fawns. If the does are in a climate/environment that doesn’t penalize them for being imprecise with when they go into heat, things will get more fuzzy.

best we can tell, the leading contributors to does going into estrous are genes, Exposure of the eye to a certain amount of daylight, and it to a less direct degree - weather in the Specific year.

To your point, the "rut" is almost non-existent locally in my part of NC, but is more pronounced in the central part of the state. We simply have a breeding window that spans October through February, in a bell curve distribution.

For example, I had a trail cam pic of a buck breeding a doe on November 7th last fall, and then watched a doe being bred in late February in a snowstorm, both within 200 yards of my house, so location was not a factor. As a cool add, I saw an extremely small fawn (as in closer to newborn) several weeks ago in that same field, and if you do the math on gestation, the odds are extremely high that the fawn was the one I saw being bred in February.

 

[Nutterbuster]

Thinking of “the rut” as a concrete tangible thing will not do much good.

Does go into heat at the time best suited to rear fawns once they’re born. Harsh winters create the need for selective pressures to be more precise. Does don’t “know” this with their little pea brains. The genes of the ones who get it right pass that formula to their offspring. Those who don’t get it right get frozen underfed fawns. If the does are in a climate/environment that doesn’t penalize them for being imprecise with when they go into heat, things will get more fuzzy.

best we can tell, the leading contributors to does going into estrous are genes, Exposure of the eye to a certain amount of daylight, and it to a less direct degree - weather in the Specific year.

Synchronized breeding is interesting. I wonder sometimes if we're not ever so slowly seeing our deer evolving out of it. They have access to more food year round, and they have expanded into areas where the winters are not severe enough to kill a fawn born too late.

Hogs aren't synchronized breeders. They seem to compete circles around deer. If whitetails learned that trick, I can't see it hurting them. Having babies year round seems better than having them once a year.

 

[Tr33_n1nj@]

I always heard breeding time had more to do with when fawns need to be weened as opposed to when they need to be born.

 

[Apex7]

I still have some small fawns in my yard as of yesterday. I see a lot around Pittsburgh now. As long as there are respective doe's bucks will try to breed them. So I'm sure there are some late births it happens probably more the we think.

 

[Jwiggins762]

As my grandfather use to say "thats some good eating right there".

 

[kyler1945]

Lol apparently I’m the only one on here that’s not a deer biologist...


Sent from parts unknown

What are you disagreeing with your passive aggressive comment and ellipsis ?

I can’t see anything you said that doesn’t agree with what else has been said.

feel free to tell us what we’re all missing...

 

[swampsnyper]

I’m not saying I don’t believe it could have been the primary rut just later than most places but I saw a secondary rut here late Jan which is why I said that. I know the Louisiana rut map or whatever ya wanna call it online shows a huge difference in the rut times just in LA alone.


Sent from parts unknown

Yup and it doesn't matter if it is north or south La either, it depends on if they transported deer in. They transported northern deer into the Atchafaylaya delta which is on the coast of the gulf of mexico. Can't get any further south. And the rut there is in November. But a little further up the Atchafaylaya river when you leave the marsh and enter the swamp land, the primary rut is around Christmas. You could hunt the rut from Nov-Feb in Louisiana if you wanted to travel around. Maybe even earlier.

 

[SnakeEater]

Yup and it doesn't matter if it is north or south La either, it depends on if they transported deer in. They transported northern deer into the Atchafaylaya delta which is on the coast of the gulf of mexico. Can't get any further south. And the rut there is in November. But a little further up the Atchafaylaya river when you leave the marsh and enter the swamp land, the primary rut is around Christmas. You could hunt the rut from Nov-Feb in Louisiana if you wanted to travel around. Maybe even earlier.

Appreciate it, I’m going to do some research and may do just that.


Sent from parts unknown