Love in the Air?

This short, silent, video vignette was captured at the very end of January.

Two weeks before Valentines Day there is no mistaking the behavior captured digitally by an ever-vigilant trail camera. 

That is a dandy buck chasing a girl deer - and if I'm not mistaken he's got loving on his mind.

An occurrence more common in the southern latitudes - this behavior is less common here half-way between the equator and the north pole.  Nevertheless, it is not entirely unknown.  

Female whitetails generally come into estrus within a shared window of opportunity beginning in mid-October into mid-December.  Gestation is around 200 days with fawn drop beginning in April and into June.  Unbred does will come into heat again 28 days later.  

With better nutritional resources here in farm country female deer born in the spring are often bred in their first year of life.  These younger mothers will come into estrus later than mature does and their fawns are delivered in July and sometimes as late as August.  

It is these late-bred does that explains the arrival of newborn fawns on the landscape in summer.  These fawns are at a disadvantage going into the fall as they lack the head start necessary to put on sufficient bulk and fat reserves than those with the earlier start.  

While some may not survive their first winter - around here (food sources), the absence of large predators (wolves and black bear) and the moderating impact of water on opposite coastlines - these late arrivals stand a better chance of survival than their brethren born in Wisconsin's north woods.   

A remarkably adaptable animal the whitetail deer is.