Free: Contests & Raffles.
Now is the time to drop some coyotes we've been seeing yotes all over lately and I've got a itch to drop some fawn killers
Came across this one last weekend
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.
Nice photo lokidog. I assume that Fidalgo Island has similar problems of deer overpopulation as the San Juans and Island Co. isles. You'd think there'd be a whole bunch of new/early fawns on the islands these days.I'm starting to believe that perhaps last fall's early rutting activity may not be that much of a rarity, at least in the relatively mild regions from the foothills down to sea level areas. There seems to be plenty of forage available for nursing mothers by the beginning of May. The extra month of time available for an early-born fawn to gain enough body mass prior to the onset of it's first winter is probably a huge factor in determining it's ability to survive that winter period and the associated scarcity of browse; especially so in the case of an early cold snap that defoliates remaining late fall shrubs. It seems that (if you believe in evolution and natural selection) the population of lowland deer in areas with typically mild winters would naturally trend towards an earlier rut, which would result in greater survival of early-born fawns over the subsequent winter. The peak of the rut still remains in early November....... Hmmmm, I gotta do some more cogitation on this.Should any of this affect my hunting strategy? Perhaps not at all, but if I get a MS tag, I think I'll be in the woods the second week of October this year instead of fishing for silvers on the Cowlitz.
Quote from: fishnfur on May 06, 2016, 10:20:34 AMI 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.Silly me. I saw these two at dusk on Friday night (almost three weeks later) eating mini-apples I had thinned off the trees. Turned out they were both bucks - still just showing a bit of antler growth. The long legs should have been a tip-off.Fantastic photo HUNTINCOUPLE. Is that a mule deer or blacktail, or can you even tell?