Was bush hogging 2 weeks ago a part of my property for the first time this year. As I was bush hogging, sounded like I ran over a rotten log. Look back and there was a snake upside down cut in half. Can back on the next pass and looked and I have cut a rattlesnake mid body. The only part left was from mid body to the tail. This is where is get odd. Look next to the rattle snake and there was other tissue, not from the snake. Looking closer, the other tissue was a new born fawn (cut up also). I guess that the snake had killed the fawn and was in the process of eating it when I came along and change the plan for the meal. Thoughts????

Just how big would a snake have to be to swallow a fawn....

Rabbit possibly.

That's what I'm thinking.............that'd have to be a monster snake, I'd think. Just how big is a newborn fawn?

Anacondasquatch snake

x2

I'm no expert but I would think it would be entirely possible for a healthy rattler to eat a newborn fawn. When we see the spotted fawns trotting around with Momma they've already grown considerably. They start out tiny.

Edit - Hmmm maybe not. Lol I was curious so did some googling.

According to Outdoor Life: Fawns average 6-8 lbs. at birth.

It would take a monster rattler to down a 6-8 lb anything.

Sure, but call me a skeptic. Would have to see pics of hooves to believe it.

It was not a rabbit. Understand the doubt, but it had spots and I picked up the a leg and it had a hoof. Strange???? And sorry no pictures.

Snakes are like dogs, in some respects. By that I mean they don't always understand their size in proportion to their pray.
A newborn fawn isn't much bigger than a rabbit, and it wouldn't be uncommon for a snake to think of it as a meal.
Of course this enters another slant on that time tested Coyote debate. I'm sure that snake would discover he couldn't eat the fawn, and a Coyote would be all too happy for the free dinner.

I'd lean towards rats and mice feeding on a recently killed fawn and the rattlesnake was hunting over bait.

Ill have to add snakes to the list of critters to starttrappin

I would think a 6ft. rattler could down a newborn fawn. He wouldn't need to eat again till spring.
It is that time. They are out looking for those last few meals.

I think you just happened to run over a new born fawn and there was a rattlesnake in the same area, just a coincidence. Be more careful when you are bushogging this time of year because the fawns will tend to hide in that high grass.

This is the only answer. If you have rattlesnakes large enough to eat deer then the FAC needs to call in a napalm drop. You have no other choice

Actually I know a guy that stopped to look at dead rattle snake the buzzards were working on. He seen a fawn leg that looked white and had a little bit of hair around the hoof.
Either the fawn leg came from the rattle snake or a buzzard puked it up. At work we see rattlesnakes longer than 5 feet. We have measured, what we call about an average we measured the other day at 49 inches the really small one was 42 inches. They were actually breeding at the time of death.

A buzzard can't swallow a whole leg.
But a rattlesnake "could" swallow a whole fawn.
I've seen them swallow an entire adult rabbit.
It's pretty impressive.

My name is Ben and Il support this message ^^^^^^

SHANE SUPPORTS JOSH'S MESSAGE AS WELL.

I've got pictures somewhere of a rat snake eating a grown rabbit that I walked up on one day on the edge of the yard. The snake wasn't that big but had the rabbit half swallowed. Impressive was an understatement.
I could definitely see a large snake downing a newborn fawn. Probably not common but plausible IMO.