Spotted Fawn on Sunday

[Al Bundy]

Opening weekend of bow I saw a little tiny fawn in spots.  Saw it maybe a month later run under my tree stand. Then during gun it disappeared. Saw it again on Sunday. Dont think it had grown at all and still had its spots. I swear it was smaller than my old (fat) lab..

 

Someone had a shot at it, gun to shoulder. It stood broadside 30 yards or so looking at us. He put the gun down and said he couldnt do it. I couldnt either. Much as i wanted a deer this season, I didnt want to take this one. Hopefully it will make the winter.

[dbHunterNY]

yea that's not good.... that means it's mother didn't get bred in her first cycle i'm thinking.  either that or a young fawn doe finally got up to weight and came into estrous later.  hope it makes it too.  I think you did the right thing.  I can't imagine you'd get much of anything meat wise from it and to shoot a deer just to shoot a deer isn't right.

[growalot]

Have any deer farms in the area? sika deer...they hunt them in MD I see.....

 

 

 

 

[Grizz1219]

When the buck doe ratio gets out of whack, like it is in the NE, does will go through 2 or 3 estrous cycles before a buck can breed her. When that happens, she has her fawn very and you get spotted fawns in winter.. they won't survive any normal winter for sure.. Sad, but mother natures way of doing what the DNR won't...

[CuseHunter]

Have any deer farms in the area? sika deer...they hunt them in MD I see.....

if so... The best eating deer there is I've heard. I'd let the lead fly and be eating real good.

[azhuntress]

I saw 2 spotted fawns about 10 years ago right after Christmas and thought that was the strangest thing but I guess it wouldn't be if the mother wasn't bred until January or February. 

 

[Doc]

Probably the best thing to do would have been to use one of your antlerless tags on it. It probably would have been some of the best venison you have ever had, and it would be taking out a deer that most likely will turn out to be coyote, fox, and crow food. Not sure that I could have done it, but I'm just saying that there could have been some justification for taking that little one out.

[Al Bundy]

I did think about it being more humane to take it than let it go through winter. Couldnt quite do it though.  No deer farms in the area. We were coming up with all kinds of theories what this thing was. Mother hit by car or some other accident, mother left it on purpose as it knew this fawn was not quite right. WHo knows.

 

When i first saw it, it was by itself. Next time I saw it, it had linked up with another doe and was walking with it. Then apparently the other doe and it parted ways. This made me question some deer behaviors and how deer traveled together. I dont know the answers. I find it interesting a second doe would part ways with this thing. There was also another band of 4 doe around. Seems it could easily have linked up with these but did not.

[growalot]

Or simply the does were shot...if you are in a heavily pine planted area and with as much food as there has been it could make it, in regards to thermals...but if the snow keeps piling up as it has been doubtful ...I've mentioned many times seeing tiny prints in the snow around here and have seen some surprisingly small deer in the late winter/spring over the years...but we have the pines...and things like elder brush and tons of bramble patches with several large swamps...give the right conditions survival isn't out of the question...it will hook up to a group of deer