Schultzy

The #1 factor where I hunt!! Its way out of wack around here I believe.

mobow

The Good Lord has a way of managing His own herd, doesn't he? I think that is utterly amazing. I've also read, in D&DH, that the opposite is also true. In areas w/ low numbers, does will have more twins than "average."

tsoc

I havn't read the article yet.Deer & Deer Hunting IMO is the best magazine out there when it comes to learning about and understanding deer biology and behavior.

GMMAT

In good ratio herds.....twins IS the "average".

SwampCollie

In places where the weather is warm enough, does will keep coming in to estrous. When I lived in South Carolina and was scouting for turkeys (First week of march) I was already seeing newborn fawns (I got some pictures from about 10 feet away. They sure are cute little things, I wish quail held as well as newborn deer do. On the opposite end, when the deer season opened August 15th... I was seeing does just absolutely swollen all by themselves... as well as some fawns that couldn't be more than a few weeks old. I saw fawns with spots right on through Christmas. I've read that in places the buck to doe ratio in the areas I hunted down there was as high as 40:1. There is no restriction on bucks there. Two a day from Aug 15 to Jan 1. Does are on a quota system based on your amount of land. To put it in perspective, we had 1300 acres, six hunters and 90 doe tags.

Buck movement was almost non-existant. When the does are ready to be bred.. they will actually seek out the bucks. Its more like spring turkeys than the rutting/chasing behavior you see on TV all the time. For all the hunting I have done, thousands of hours in the woods, over 100 deer killed (mostly does too), I've only seen bucks running does three times in my entire life. Thats probably mind blowing to a lot of you mid-west guys.

GMMAT

Honest question....but isn't this "normal"?

davidmil

Quit shooting the fawns.[8D] IF you're talking right now.... the fawns aren't born yet. If you're talking late in the season, the buck fawns get run off by mom and daddy. A lot of time they leave their fawns in hiding. I walked into a fern covered ridge one day and kicked out what came to be known as the nursery. In a 30 yard stretch I kicked out 8-10 fawns laying in the ferns. I could see a bunch of adult deer, probably a dozen, out on the edge of the field. It was all the mothers. It got real interesting there for a while with fawns going every which way, does coming to them and running away and coming back. Then they started bleating and the woods was suddenly empty except for me. Just because you don't see a fawn doesn't mean there isn't one.

GMMAT

duh[8D]

I agree, David. But after you understand the herd dynamics of where I hunt....and read the article....it'll make more sense. We're talking deer density of 100+/sq. mi.

Rhody Hunter

I think in my area it is the buck to doe ratio

loogout1

I actually think it is because of the buck to doe ratio where I live. I'm in the woods constantly during hunting season and I couldn't even imagine coming up with a number to describe how many does I see during the rut by themselves(meaning not being followed or chased by a buck). I'm talking groups of 5-10 does, yearlings included, hanging around for good amounts of time and nothing coming in to check them. Happens dozens of times during the season. I also see lots of does without fawns, and quite a few single fawns also. D&DH is a awesome mag. Tons of useful info.