Graduating Class

Around here most whitetail deer fawns can be born from April through July, with late May thru early June the peak. Consequently, the local class of fawns have grown considerably as you can see in the first photo taken August 9.

 

 

They're getting bigger by the week.

 

A month ago the fawn in the second photo showed-up; a spindly newborn. 

  

 

This happens when a doe that wasn't bred during the main rut in November comes back into estrus in December.  Furthermore, it is not unusual that a fawn born in the spring of 2025 reaches sufficient weight to enter their first estrus later in the season. The bottom line is that a whitetail doe can be bred late as long as her biological timing is receptive to a buck. They're promiscuous animals.  

 

 

In any event, mama and this little runt have been showing-up regularly on the trail cameras.

 

 

 

​In the last run of the trail camera trapline I can tell you that with newborn fawns and turkey poults on the landscape; this year's graduating class is a big one for sure.

 

Further evidence that if you build wildlife habitat they will come...