Doe cycle

[Jack Reed]

When a doe or does come into heat,will they stay ready to breed until they get bred or will they have a second cycle. If so how long between cycles? That's what they call the second rut.Right?
Will somebody please teach me

 

[mike243]

1 month between cycles probably in for a little over a week,BSK can answer that? a lot more accurately

 

[TNCharlie]

I'm not an authority on this so you will probably get better answers, but this is how I understand it.

If a doe does not get bred during the peak rut, she will cycle again in 28 days. (Sound familiar?) This obviously will set the bucks into action or what appears to us as a second rut.

I have read that any does left unbred after the second (but smaller) flurry of activity will (or may) have yet another (or more) cycles, which explains why we see the late fawns that are still small and carrying spots in the fall.

Okay experts (BSK?), correct any mistakes in this and add more/better info.

 

[Jack Reed]

I'm not an authority on this so you will probably get better answers, but this is how I understand it.

If a doe does not get bred during the peak rut, she will cycle again in 28 days. (Sound familiar?) This obviously will set the bucks into action or what appears to us as a second rut.

I have read that any does left unbred after the second (but smaller) flurry of activity will (or may) have yet another (or more) cycles, which explains why we see the late fawns that are still small and carrying spots in the fall.

Okay experts (BSK?), correct any mistakes in this and add more/better info.

Thank you.

 

[MUP]

What TNCharlie said. 28 days is the measurement of time I use as well to try and pinpoint the 2nd cycle of does in my area.

 

[backyardtndeer]

When a doe or does come into heat,will they stay ready to breed until they get bred

No, their cycle lasts about 36 hours.

or will they have a second cycle. If so how long between cycles

Yes, they will come in again if not successful the first time around, usually about 28 days later. If she is not bred then, she will come in again about 28 days later. You will also have doe fawns that get big enough to get their first cycle coming in in the midst of mature does that might have missed getting bred.

 

[GRIT]

 

[DayDay]

Interesting video.

I wish they had put the information in print so I could have taken a minute or so to read it instead of 12 minutes to watch it.

 

[Ski]

No, their cycle lasts about 36 hours.

Yes, they will come in again if not successful the first time around, usually about 28 days later. If she is not bred then, she will come in again about 28 days later. You will also have doe fawns that get big enough to get their first cycle coming in in the midst of mature does that might have missed getting bred.

That's it right there exactly. She'll cycle every month until she's bred. Fawns first cycle when they hit about 90lbs. Here in TN where we have a fair amount of later born fawns, plus a pretty high density of does, it seems rut lasts sporadically all the way into spring. I still had spotted fawns on cam in November. It'll be February or March before they are big enough to cycle, and I bet they still get bred....if they're does.

 

[mike243]

Lmao we have a lot of doe that never hit 90lbs , it's age specific not weight I/m pretty sure, however many months it takes for the internal stuff to mature

 

[LenS]

I'll add a question......will does who are bred late initially always breed late? For example, if a young doe reaches 90 pounds and is bred in January, will she cycle late next year or will she line up to the rest of her herd?

 

[Ski]

Lmao we have a lot of doe that never hit 90lbs , it's age specific not weight I/m pretty sure, however many months it takes for the internal stuff to mature

You're correct. It's not 90lbs. Below is a screenshot from The National Deer Association. It is weight, not age that dictate sexual maturity. Here's the link to the article: https://deerassociation.com/doe-fawns-breed-good-sign/

 

[Ski]

I'll add a question......will does who are bred late initially always breed late? For example, if a young doe reaches 90 pounds and is bred in January, will she cycle late next year or will she line up to the rest of her herd?

I believe they fall in line with the others, a lot like all the women in your house sync up.

 

[backyardtndeer]

You're correct. It's not 90lbs. Below is a screenshot from The National Deer Association. It is weight, not age that dictate sexual maturity. Here's the link to the article: https://deerassociation.com/doe-fawns-breed-good-sign/

View attachment 160043

I think I read years ago that a doe fawn at 60-65 lbs is capable of coming into estrous. May have been a Leonard Lee Rue book or could gave been somewhere else. Typically a fawn with adequate nutrition should hit that weight around 6 months of age or so. So late May to June born fawns coming in during the month of December and into January is probably likely.

 

[BSK]

Everyone else beat me to it. Estrus in a doe lasts 36-48 hours. If she does not conceive during that timeframe, she will cycle back into estrus in 28 days. She will continue to do this for 4 or 5 cycles, if she is healthy enough. I emphasized conception above because a doe can get bred and not conceive.

Some does are barren (cannot conceive for a number of reasons, just as some human women can never conceive). Research on the percent of does that are barren varies. I've seen stats as low as 0.5% and as high as nearly 10%. This is important, as some does that are barren still go into estrus. Because they cannot conceive, they will keep cycling back into estrus every 28 days. This is one of the causes of hunters seeing chasing in March - a barren doe coming back into estrus on her 4th or 5th cycle. In addition to barren does, as others have mentioned, in a health deer population, a given percentage of female fawns will reach the necessary body weight to enter estrus, and they usually do so in January or February. In TN, I've seen upwards of 25% of female fawns able to reach estrus their first year (as a fawn). In the far north, I've seen 80-90% of female fawns achieve estrus as a fawn.

 

[megalomaniac]

Not certain about deer, but probably very similar to humans...

From the actual time of ovulation, the egg is only viable for 12 hours, and successful fertilization declines rapidly if sperm are not present 6h after ovulation. That being said, sperm can remain viable and capable of fertilization for up to 48 hours.

Noone has studied this in whitetails to the same level of detail as in humans, but I suspect it's the same.... does will stand and accept bucks just before onset of ovulation, to ensure viable sperm is present at the time of actual ovulation. So while the entire receptive estrus timeframe is 24-36 hours, the most critical part is the 6h immediately following actual ovulation. Which is also why does mated with multiple bucks just before ovulation have twin fawns from different fathers. There were sperm already present in the genital tract from those matings prior to ovulation.

 

[Bone Collector]

When a doe or does come into heat, will they stay ready to breed until they get bred or will they have a second cycle?

They stay in heat for about 48 hours.

If so how long between cycles?

28 days

That's what they call the second rut. Right?

yes

Sorry I was way late

 

[Ski]

So while the entire receptive estrus timeframe is 24-36 hours, the most critical part is the 6h immediately following actual ovulation.

That's when they're wandering around the wide open bleating their heads off When momma wants it, she REALLY wants it.

 

[backyardtndeer]

That's when they're wandering around the wide open bleating their heads off When momma wants it, she REALLY wants it.

Or when you get a lonely doe searching hard for that buck that just grunted, that happened to be you.

 

[Ski]

Or when you get a lonely doe searching hard for that buck that just grunted, that happened to be you.

True story ^