Early fawn drop

[charlie 01]

Here in Ill. a horse shoer (hunter friend) of mine was working at a farm, and the woman (owner) told him she has two does on her farm that have fawns. She has been seeing them for two weeks now. My friend said impossible, so she took him out to were they were. He said one doe had twins, the other had one. They were small, maybe 18" high, and looked healthy. Acording to her, they have had to been born in mid March. Would that mean they would have been bred in Sept.? Normal fawn drop around here is Late May & early June.

[Cut N Run]

Curious to be sure. A buddy of mine found a fawn that was a few days old during the first week of turkey season two years ago (April 11th). I expect to see fawns born the same time ae you, May & June.

They'll stand a good chance of surviving the winter with an early start like that...if a cold Spring doesn't get 'em.

Jim

[Jon H.]

 In Jan. 09, while I was hunting, I came across some fawn tracks about a half an inch long.   

[bmstaaf]

I saw a fawn a few years ago in early April, I thought that was unreal. March blows my mind even more, honestly that first full moon last year in early October had the deer all messed up (chasing anyway). If you look back at the early archery posts people did have buck chasing in the first few weeks of October. Who would have thought breeding though? The does that had the fawns must have been bred late September early October then she must of dropped earlier yet. Amazing.

[charlie 01]

The full moon in sept. of 2010 was the 23rd. I have, over the years of bow hunting and observations thought that the full moon triggers some breeding activity, especially if it is somewhat cooler than normal (more so with a frost). I can't remember what the temps. were at that time. Was it cool enough to bring on some beeding activity here in Ill.. Anyone remember?
 
I guess if a doe was to come in estrus in late Sept. a buck would surely breed her.
 
I do remember one year "way back when", I was doing some trout fishing in Mich. in late Sept. in an area that I regularly bow hunted. I, for the heck of it walked through where there was always scrape activity and sure enough, found fresh scrapes. I thought that was odd, but it was during a full moon phase. I'm sure we have more to learn about Whitetails.  

[msbadger]

That is no surprise to me...read back on some of my posts....I've mentioned seeing breeding late Sept ..early Oct...and I've seen evidence of tiny tiny prints in early April....good sized fawns in early turkey season....I think survivability here is due to the many mature pine stands...for I just drove through a raging snow storm last night....There is always one mature buck every fall hitting the doe hard in Sept... 

[jonny5buck]

I actually had found 2 twin still born fawns at a park i hunt....it was in april...i thought it was pretty early also....i know that because deer are still individuals that some will breed sooner ,later..i guess the same would hold true to giving birth....i also wonder like in this case if the mother doe was stressed...or if she gave birth early as a survival mode for herself....

It was a sad scene...i was looking for sheds along the edge of a sorghum field,,,walking the flat laying indian grass....i looked down and seen 2 fawns ..with spots..maybe one or two pounds a piece...laying nose to tail...nose to tail...it looked like momma left them....they still had the placenta covering them....i believe the momma doe eats that ...not sure what happened ...the park guy said he had never seen anything like that either.....sad scene[&o]

[freak nasty 145]

Last fall ( oct. 2010) i was walking from my stand to my truck. I jumped a fawn that still had white spots!! I could not believe my eyes. Wonder if that fawn made it??

[charlie 01]

Well, we can only hope the fawn you saw while hunting last fall did make it. I'm going to show, with this pic, what Mother Nature can do for some of our wild life. This pic was taken in late March or early April, I'm not sure. At any rate, the harshness of winter was over and the deer were looseing their winter hair, as you can see. I used to see this deer often while shed hunting in this area. He was easy to spot, his coat was very dark, almost black. I often wondered if the dark coat was to absorb more of the suns rays to help him survive. It would be interesting to know exactly, when he was born, evidently late. And then, when would the doe have had to be bred?
 
If the fawn you saw in Oct. had spots, would it be reasonable to say it was born in Sept? If so, back track from Sept. to see when she could have been bred.

[freak nasty 145]

I just could not believe it. At first i did not know what is was until it stopped to look at me. Nice pic. tho. Just makes you wonder about mother nature sometimes. Thanks for sharing.