She stood looking alert with her fawn standing nearby. What a sight! Chances were that her newborn(s) were nearby. Now it’s beginning to be more common to see does with fawns. And there’s a reason for that.
During the spring of the year, just before the does give birth, adult does become very territorial. This is when the family group of last year is dispersed. Generally the month of May is when she sends the fawns she gave birth to in the spring packing. The young deer have been nurtured and mentored to the point that they can be on their own. Now the pregnant doe prepares to give birth again.
This is a time when deer increasingly fall victim to vehicle accidents. Annually the PA Game Commission offers warnings to motorists to be more alert for deer on the move.
From one year to the next comments fly stating deer have become inbred. To the contrary, it is the social behavior of natural dispersal that keeps the deer healthy and the threat of inbreeding becomes a moot point. Besides, this natural dispersal has been taking place long before scientific studies have proven nature’s way to be sound, keeping whitetails genetically healthy.
Another interesting finding is that in the northern portion of the U.S. the doe will not allow the fawn to follow her for two or three weeks after giving birth. Studies have shown that for the first two to three weeks the doe will keep her fawns hidden. It makes sense since a number of predators will seek out fawns. This being the case, if you see a fawn following its mother, chances are the fawn is more than three weeks old. By then the small deer can outrun the fastest marathon runner and most other predators.
The latest fawn survival study wrapped up in 2017 and the findings processed thus far has been interesting. The project was developed and conducted by the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State (PCFWRU) and the PA Game Commission. A goal of the study was to determine the effect of predators, especially coyotes, relating to fawn survival. What was learned has been a surprise to many.
Over the course of the three years of field study, 164 captured fawns and more than 200,000 trail-camera photos again have demonstrated that Pennsylvania has good, stable fawn survival. However there were losses.
“The three principal predators that surfaced in the first study resurfaced in the second: black bears, coyotes and bobcats,” said Duane Diefenbach, PCFWRU unit leader.
“Despite growing concern about fishers as deer predators, they didn’t take any fawns in the study. To date, no fisher has ever killed a radio-collared study fawn in North America,” he noted.
In the 2015-17 study, 82 fawns were captured and fitted with radio collars on the northern study area on the Susquehannock State Forest. Another 83 fawns were captured and radio-collared on the southern study area, which included parts of the Rothrock and Bald Eagle state forests.
There were 44 mortalities on the northern study area: 33 from predators, six from humans, and five from natural causes. Bears took 18 fawns; coyotes, eight; bobcats, two; and unknown predators, five.
The southern study area had 38 mortalities: 18 from predators, 13 natural causes, and five from humans. Coyotes took six fawns; bears, five; bobcats, five; and unknown predators, two.
Tess Gingery, a Penn State graduate student with the PCFWRU provided additional information.
Gingery said, ”Most fawn mortality occurred over the first eight weeks of a fawn’s life. Conversely, most human-caused mortality such as roads, fences, farming activities, and hunting occurred in the 25 to 30-week window.”
Regarding natural predators, fawns are most vulnerable only for a month or so. After that their survivability from predation increases greatly.
Christopher Rosenberry, who supervises the agency’s Deer and Elk Section, put things into perspective.
Rosenberry said, “There was no evidence that predators were taking too many of our fawns in any of our 23 Wildlife Management Units. They all have stable or growing whitetail populations.”
Rosenberry’s overview of the well documented study was to the point. He said, “Our field studies have shown repeatedly that predators are the number one cause of fawn mortality, and more often than not, black bears are taking the fawns. But fawn mortality is not causing deer-population reductions anywhere in Pennsylvania.”
From the vast amount of data collected from the study, the evidence points to a lesser rate of predation than most would have guessed, and deer are better at avoiding trouble than what most would have imagined.
Fawns are born with a reddish colored coat of hair. On its back the fawn will have two rows of white spots, one on each side of the spine. Each row of spots will include sixty to eighty spots. On either side of the body an additional hundred or more irregularly sized spots will be found. The spots are white tipped hair and are not white down to the root of the hair. As the fawn grows and moves, the spots will eventually wear off.
For the first four days or so fawns usually lie curled in a circle. Fawns are born with no odor which also helps to give the newborn added protection.
Up to about four days the fawn will lie still when discovered. By the sixth day at least half the fawns that area disturbed will run off and are almost impossible for a human to catch. At seven days almost all fawns will run when disturbed. It is also at this age when fawns will wander about seemingly by themselves. But that is not the case.
Fawns will nurse from four to ten minutes at a time and will do so about four to six times in a twenty-four hour period. Fawns will also consume two to four ounces of milk every four hours. At one week the fawn will take about thirty ounces a day. At three weeks they will take more and also starting to eat green vegetation.
So why don’t we see many fawns right now? Asia Murphy, a Penn State graduate student with the PCFWRU said it all, “Does are smart. They raise their fawns in safe places.”
Charlie Burchfield is an active member and past president of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, an active member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Outdoor Writers Assoc. of America and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers. Gateway Outdoors e-mail is GWOutdoors@comcast.net
