Who's seeing fawns?

I watched a big doe a couple of afternoons ago wobbling down a fence line and she looked as if she was about to pop. That doe had to be one miserable deer in this heat. I've heard a few people say they have seen some "skinny does", but no one from central or south AL has mentioned any fawn sightings yet.

I'm in northeast AL and our does haven't dropped yet.

not yet, just a bunch of fat, pregnant does so far.

I am from northeast alabama and yesterday afternoon I walked up on a fawn laying in some brush not 50yds from my trail camera and I think it was as shocked as I was a that moment.

I am from NE bama and seen a big fawn ran over close to the house. We are seeing some giant does ready to drop and have a few fawns on trail cams already.

Me and the wife saw one on the way back from the lake last sat. Barely able to walk.

seen one last week looked about 2 weeks old

They are allready hitting the ground here in central Alabama.

Got a pic of one on July 24 in Jackson Co. Right on schedule, puts momma getting bred the first week in Jan.

This just confirms to me that our local deer herd is really screwed up.... South of the river in Marshall county, our deer don't rut until the last few days of January, but normally in early February.

Last week in Jan. is the secondary breeding period in most of Jackson. Primary being last few days in Dec. first days in Jan. However, the peak can shift a little. But, if you hunt say Dec 25 thru Jan 10 you won't miss it. I saw a mature buck breed a doe on Dec. 28 a couple years ago. Fawns start popping out 3rd week in July. If your herd is unbalanced really bad,they may not breed till late Feb. or early March. My info is that does keep coming in every 28 days untill bred or bucks testostrone drops.

The deer here were stocked in the early 80's. They came out of G'ville state park. If I remember correctly the deer at the park originally came out of southwest AL and the deer on the north end of the Sand Mountain and Jackson county came out of Bankhead and filtered in from TN and GA. That may all be wrong though. I have not seen a fawn any year here before mid August.

I think our deer came from the Stimpson sanctuary in lower AL. They were released on Skyline WMA and the Jones farm in lower PRV. I forget the years, once in late 50's and again in early 60's. And, boy did they ever spred!

X2

I've seen a lot of fresh worked scrapes during the mid/late part of turkey season in Pike County. The rut is definitely screwed up. I wish they would take two weeks off of the early season when it is hot anyway, and add two weeks in February. Even if they did this just in a line south of Montgomery or something it would be better. If does are needing killing, have the early two weeks as doe only.

Saw one two weeks ago between Chocolocco MGT Area and Ft. McClelland. Deer here rut around Thanksgiving though.

I started getting pictures of fawns on 7/31 here in N. Bama.

That ain't a bad idea. It wouldn't alleviate human pressure in the woods, but would thin the heard and force buck to work a little harder come rutting time.

I may be missing something, but I don't understand why we need an early doe season. Just pound them first 3-4 weeks of season. Then let up on them and hunt the big un, when he gets on his feet in the rut/ breeding period. After the guns go to poppin' he's not moving in daylight till rut anyway.

They are getting close here, but as I said, no fawns yet. If fawns drop in deer like calves do in cows then these does are very close to fawning.

Isn't the gestation period 6.5 months?

Wouldn't that put them at being bred early Feb?

200 day gestation period.. Today is the 219 day of the year= early Jan

Gestation is about 200 days. If they drop on 8/15, they would have been bred on 1/27/11. I have not seen a buck chasing a doe on our farm before 1/30 of any year. We have the latest start of rut of any area I have hunted in the state. I have hunted extensively in SE, SW, and NE.

jbone posted while I was typing. I don't think they will start dropping here before 8/15.

I've got a big fat doe in my back yard ready to drop soon..

only seen one on our place in Dallas Cnty. Bunch of pics of does big as barns though. I expect to start seeing alot of fawns on camera here within the next week or two.

On our place we really need to start taking out some does. Every year I say Im going to take two or three, but for the life of me I just can't bring myself to shoot one with the fawns still hanging around them. And by the time they start putting some distance between them and momma, the bucks are chasing and I don't want to shoot a doe . . . .

A fawn is weaned about the same time it looses it's spots. If the fawn has no spots, momma is fair game!

Saw my first one today in Greenville. Problem was it was dead and decapated laying on the edge of a clearcut. No bite marks on it. Pretty recent. Made me sick

havent seen one yet in washington co or south of there

The does have not dropped their fawns yet in Mobile county.

saw a doe a few minutes ago that looked like she was ready to pop, Monroe county

I saw a set of fawn tracks this morning about the size of a quarter. I know that I have seen them much smaller, maybe the size of my thumbnail. So that fawn is maybe a month old? This was in Winston county.

I ran over one with the bush hog July 23rd. in Blount County.

Saw couple in a field with 2 does last week in south Lee County.

Man, I hate when that happens...You just know that it was Booner buck that the mower just ate. I once barely stopped in time to avoid one going under the tractor, backed up, went a swath over to continue mowing and mowed down the twin as I watched the first still lying motionless in the grass. I always seem to run up on them in power line right of ways.

saw a doe with a fawn about 2 weeks ago in bibb county in a field about 3 miles from the perry co line on hwy 5.

279 pictures of the same 6 fat does again since Sunday. No fawns. I put corn out on a freshened Redmond salt/DiCal mineral lick last week. The corn has been gone for several days, but they are visiting the mineral lick 3-4 times each day.

I figure if we have enough spotters and cameras out we can finally and somewhat definitively, compute when the breeding occurred in different areas across the State. If you guys will keep posting up the info with dates and locations of first fawn sightings I'll build an excel spread sheet and see if I can plot the data on a map of Alabama. If anyone is interested I could post it up for everyone to see where and when breeding occured.

you know you'd have to back up the "born on" date a good two weeks from first sighting dates.....

troy

I bush hogged a set of twins on August 3 last week. I figured them to be 2 or 3 days old. The rut here in Cullman is mid to late December and again mid to late January. The doe to these fawns would have been bred around Jan. 12, 2011. Made me sick. Needless to say, I've stopped the bush hogging.

You're right Troy...I figured I would put a about -215 days into the formula, so that should give us about a +/- 1 week from conception.

You won't get them on camera much. They spend 95% of their time bedded for the first few weeks, and don't move around with mother. Even in October, their visibility on camera is much less than their prevalence in the woods. Take a look at this study that a student of mine did.

Camera Study

When I start seeing hollow gutted does, I'll know that fawning has started. Right now they all still have a belly full. I also figure that the doe groups will start busting up, won't they? Surely they will spread out to fawn.

I sure hope thats true. It rained, hard, yesterday on my place in Wilcox county and there was tracks all over today, but no fawns.

Interesting read Dr D. and I would agree that fawns will be bedded up mostly for their first few weeks. I should also include other evidence of fawning in my experimental endevor, such as pics of does that exhibit physical charateristics of post birth. Those might be more prevelent than actual pics, or sightings of fawns. However, based on sales market data and personal observation, camera numbers in the woods are increasing every year. I use a lot of cameras without baiting to monitor throughout a property and I feel cameras along with individual observations could provide a small sample group for my data plotting.

saw a doe and fawn on my property in centreville on 7/30/11

I saw a very small one ran over two weeks ago by my house. Shelby Cty.

Had one walk up to the roll-up door at the shop in Perry Co yesterday...couple of days old....

Yes...you can get a smalls sample, and anything that you do to collect data can only help you to be more informed. But, the reason that I posted those data was to let you know about the potential bias...and potential for misleading information in this case.

Good luck with the surveys.

Don't sweat it yet. You shouldn't be seeing any fawns, with the exception of the odd one here and there.

Look at it this way...if you could see them, then so could the coyotes.

7:00 pm this evening I saw two does and three spotted fawns feeding along I-65 between Montevallo and Clanton.

Don't know how old this one is just had the cam out for a week. Pickens County

More proof. This was today in Lee County

I believe they will be dropping soon and this one may have already. The first picture shows how large the doe is, and in the second picture it looks like she's "making a sack" meaning that the she's ready for milk production.

She may have already popped. Any guess on the age of the fawn i posted earlier? I cant imagine more than a couple days.

Elmore County - 8/16/11

Dude, I've got no idea.

Saw tracks at house today. South Tallapoosa county

Saw two in Dallas County Sunday, the 14th.

I havent seen any yet but keep getting some big does on trail cam I think they are ready to drop

saw a small doe with a fawn today . tiny one , she called it out of my grown over corn patch .

i wondered what they heck she was doing .

just to add . i've been harrowing a good bit of ground ever so often to get the grass/weeds killed and have seen no fawn tracks. today was the first sign of a fawn

almost run over one in west bend seen another by the road on my to mobile saturday

Still no signs of them here. Pictures or otherwise.

Saw one today, less than a week old...

Something to think about... If a does drops today you can go back 200 days to when she was bred. That puts you into February after the season is out. Just food for thought

I didn't see a scrape on our farm last year until 2/2. Year before it was 1/28....... A buddy of mine that hunts a few miles up the road got a trail camera pic of a, maybe month old, spotted fawn around Thanksgiving last year. Take 200 days off that one. LOL

Deer probably breed sometimes 12 months a year. Southern Sportman's Lodge had some in a pen we watched breed in May.

Well, ONE that is.

yeah there are always does that don't cycle until later but think about places with outrageous buck:doe ratios, theres just not enough man to go around. (not a bad problem to have if you walk on two feet lol) or maybe she got bred and "miscarried" lots of factors play a part...

May seems a touch early my friend, I would almost have to chalk that one up as a fluke/rape. locked up in a little "room"/fence all year with somebody. Bound to happen at some point:)

Possible.

Got a couple on camera from 8/25, looked to be about 8 - 10" tall. most does pics show them to be about to bust. 200 days prior put them being bred around last week of Jan first week of Feb.

Saw LOTS this past weekend in Clarke and Sumter Counties.

This is the 1st weekend I have encountered any.
But, it seemed like they were EVERYWHERE this past weekend while we were hunting!

I got fawns over a month old.

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Saw a doe and a tiny fawn on my way out of Fort Toulouse. Very cute. It was all the fawn could do to keep up with momma.

I have NO input as to the PEAK anywhere else but the 2 areas I frequent, Clarke and Sumter.

The fawn birthing definitely peaked this past week!

Good pics swamp fever.

Still nary a sighting, picture or any evidence of a fawn here yet.

They are there. You just might have to get up before 8:00 A.M. to see them. <grin>

But then I'd have to go to bed early.

Still no fawns on the ground in Mobile county.

Mama may like that?

Just 3 or 4 nights a week.....

First sighting this week in North Baldwin/Monroe border area.

I finally saw 2 fawns today in South Montgomery County.

i've been seeing fawns for the last month. i hit one (only the second deer ever) tuesday morning. saw one in my dads backyard today that was BIG.

We finally have fawns on the ground in Mobile county! Which would be about right with the rut just starting around here around the first of Feb.