fawn deaths

[nybuckboy]

What percentage of fawns born each year make through their first 6 months?  Reason I ask is I have seen numerous dead on the road this year.  Made me wonder how many succumb to coyotes and cars in their first 6 months.

Do you think it's 50% - higher or lower?

[turkeyfeathers]

  But yes, lots of dots noticed road side lately. Makes me curious as well how many make it to 2 overall 

[TACC]

I have no idea , also don't forget the bears, I once heard that the bears reduce the population at a higher percentage or rate than the coyotes do.

But I am very curious about this as well.

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[Hock3y24]

i have not seen a single dead one on the road this year but have seen above average fawns for my area. Id say lower than 50% when you factor in everything. 

[nyslowhand]

Interesting article in last issue of NYON about this very topic. IRC, about 45% of fawns don't make it to the point of losing their spots. Believe this was from a PA study and attributed fawn mortality to all forms of predators and roadkill. Another very interesting fact was that fawn mortality goes up exponentially regarding the distance they were born away from large, open crop fields. Had to take this mortality rate with a grain of salt due to there not being the black bear population there is in PA, at least in my 8F neck of the woods. Maybe the author (Buckstopshere) can chime in.

[nybuckboy]

I was thinking over 50% would make it for sure.  Based on the PA study above and the less bears we tend to have in NY I'd think 65% probably make it through the first 6 months or til they lose their spots.

[Rattler]

Some pretty clear answers to the question of fawn mortality can be found in this study.

https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Wildlife/WildlifeSpecies/White-tailedDeer/Documents/Fawn_Survival.pdf

"Abstract Estimates of survival and cause-specific mortality of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns are important to population management. We quantified cause-specific mortality, survival rates, and habitat characteristics related to fawn survival in a forested landscape and an agricultural landscape in central Pennsylvania. We captured and radiocollared neonatal (0.05). Predation accounted for 46.2% (95% CI=37.6–56.7%) of 106 mortalities through 34 weeks. We attributed 32.7% (95% CI=21.9–48.6%) and 36.7% (95% CI=25.5–52.9%) of 49 predation events to black bears (Ursus americanus) and coyotes (Canis latrans), respectively. Natural causes, excluding predation, accounted for 27.4% (95% CI=20.1–37.3) of mortalities. Fawn survival in Pennsylvania was comparable to reported survival in forested and agricultural regions in northern portions of the whitetailed deer range. We have no evidence to suggest that the fawn survival rates we observed were preventing population growth. Because white-tailed deer are habitat generalists, home-range-scale habitat characteristics may be unrelated to fawn survival; therefore, future studies should consider landscape-related characteristics on fawn survival."