Fawn drop coming soon to a woodlot near you?

[BULLBLASTER]

Good time to do a little predator control and help save some fawns.

Have shot 14 of the fawn/calf killers in just the past couple of weeks on our place alone.  Seems pretty early for fawns,  We usually see them starting later in May and through June.

14! ?  that is getting after it! Good work!
 

[Jonathan_S]

  seriously.  Wish they were easier to pop around my place.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Saw 12 does Wednesday 4/27 between Wenatchee and Bridgeport.  One appeared to have dropped fawns. 

[PolarBear]

Good time to do a little predator control and help save some fawns.

Have shot 14 of the fawn/calf killers in just the past couple of weeks on our place alone.  Seems pretty early for fawns,  We usually see them starting later in May and through June.

14! ?  that is getting after it! Good work!
 

Thanks.  Between my daughter and myself we are up to 22 since the first of the year.

[7mmfan]

Not 100% but one of the neighborhood does yesterday appeared to be tending to a small critter. They were to far away for me to see clearly but it looked like 2 animals, 1 big, 1 very little.

[fishnfur]

Still nothing here.  Perhaps a few in the next week or so, but I also expect the majority of the fawns to drop around the last week of May.

I was looking for info on early estrous in deer and found a somewhat interesting and short article out of one of the schools in Wisconsin on reproductive seasonality of deer - a general discussion for the most part but includes rather uninteresting descriptions of the differences between species of deer.  Blacktail are lumped into the mule deer category (I believe).   Check out the graph and skip the discussion if so inclined.

http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/jjp1/ansci_repro/misc/websites09/thur/Deer%20Seasonality/Deer%20Seasonality.html#implications

PolarBear - you rock man!   

[BOWHUNTER45]

Blacktail fawns are being born right now ...Heard a few already !  crazy !

[Jonathan_S]

I can tell a few does are getting ready to drop their fawns because they are hanging out close to my place.  As funny as that sounds, the hillside below me has good long grass and the coyotes aren't as thick as out on the prairie.  There are about 6 does meandering around on this 10 acre area just like last May 

  I will be hyper alert for coyotes now.

[pd]

http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/jjp1/ansci_repro/misc/websites09/thur/Deer%20Seasonality/Deer%20Seasonality.html#implications
 

Good find!  Quite interesting information there.

[fishnfur]

I still have no visuals indicating that new fawns are among us.  I did notice that on the last day of April, suddenly my previously pristine apple trees in my back yard had been browsed for the first time this Spring.  After three days of watching the trees get beat up every night, I put a trail cam out (wishing for a buck, but expecting yea rlings).   

The next three days verified that a single mature doe, somewhere around 110 - 120 lbs., was gorging on the apple tree leaves.  She buries her nose in the fruit bearing regions and almost inhales the leaves, like it was a big salad bowl.  Normally, they pick single leaves and twigs off, so I believe that considering her very thin (not pregnant) belly, she has likely already given birth and is gorging on succulent forage to offset her caloric loss from the rigors of lactation.  .....at least I don't think she looks pregnant,  which of course does not mean she gave birth either.  Who knows?  It may be the second pic is a different deer - she looks a little more stout.

[MooseStock]

You can usually figure on the last week of May thru the first week of June....give or take a few days either way for what I have seen in my years.............Les

[erk444]

Came across this one last weekend

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Nice pic!

[REHJWA]

Came across this one last weekend

Thanks for sharing.

[fishnfur]

Really good pic.  I've never found one laying quiet and hidden like that.  I've probably scared a few to death as I bumble through the woods though.

Moosestock - the point of the thread was early estrous resulting in early fawning.   As you state, the majority of the fawns will be dropped in the last week of May and first week of June.

I think the window is about closed on those early breedings resulting in pregnancies.  I'm sure a few of the new fawns will show themselves  the next week or two. 

Don't quote me on this, but the implications of an early estrous that likely occurs annually (according to my books) in a significant percentage of does, may result in the early buck movement we experienced in early October last year.  This is likely especially important during mild winters when deer survival is above the norm.  More does survived = more does experiencing early estrous (and more bucks surviving = more buck movement, as a whole).   While the majority of does that are bred in early October are not successfully impregnated, this first estrous seems to be the start of the  beginning of the movement of bucks searching for mates.  Last year, even trophy bucks were out and moving in full rut style a month early, which may be a result of so many bucks surviving the winter.
 
Those with multi-season deer tags - October 7 - 13 plus or minus may be an excellent time to be in the woods sitting on stand at a trail intersection.  (Bobcat- think rut hole) It seems thought, that by the opener, the initial Blacktail buck movement surge is likely over, or at least greatly reduced. 

Shhhh.......