timbercruiser

Its the time of year the backyard starts to get filled with spotted fawns. So far we have seen 5 in the last couple of weeks including a small doe and her single fawn yesterday morning. Little wobble legged feller still had a wet naval cord. The food plot in the backyard is up good and the does will be bringing them out more in the next few days.

Dan O.

timbercruiser; I don't understand. Our fawns are born in the spring and loose their spots around August. Where are you located to get fall birthing?

Dan O.

timbercruiser

I'm in Northwest Florida about half way between Pensacola and Tallahassee. We never see fawns before September, but our winters are so mild there isn't much winter stress. Bucks chase does through late Jan, Feb and March around here.

Sooner_Hunter

Give us your address. I'll be there for Christmas to help you through the first quarter of 03.

"Size may not matter but it sho IS nice!" [/quote]

farm hunter

Timbercruiser,

We often forget about the areas of the country with A January Rut. Do you find that you also have A November rut in places where northern deer were stocked, years ago, or has the January rut displaced the northern deer's normal rut cycle? Do you sometimes have both?

Thanks

timbercruiser

I do all of my hunting about 100 miles north of here close to Troy, Alabama. We have a number of different tracts leased in that area. The peak of the rut there runs around the end of Jan. Years ago I hunted about 40 miles northeast of there and the rut usually hit the middle of Dec. I have always felt the various stock used in the 50's and 60's had a lot to do with our messed up rut period, but the low harvest of does for years, now over-populated, helped push the rut later. The does that bred their 2nd or 3rd cycle, thus later fawns. Doe fawns breedin at 6 or 8 months also helped mess up the rut.

timbercruiser

One additional idea I have is that the bucks run does too late in the year, thus when they shed and start to grow new antlers their body is too stressed to grow the exceptional racks. It isn't uncommon to find numerous scrapes in April. Nobody I know wants to shoot a lot of does early (late Nov gun season) because there are too many spotted fawns. I wish the game and fish division would open the season later and run into mid-late Feb even if it was doe only the last couple of weeks. We have to reduce the doe population, and I'm just as guilty as anybody else in that I don't care anything about shooting a doe.

Dan O.

timbercruiser; I pity the decision you have to make when you have a doe in your sights with a fawn next to her with no chance of survival.
Do they extend your season to reduce this problem?

Dan O.

timbercruiser

Gun season runs from Nov 17 to Jan 31 in most counties, two deer a day one of which must be a doe. I will not knowingly shoot a doe that has a young fawn, if we had another two or three week extension for does only it would be better than what we have now.