? For bsk

[westtntoms]

A buddy of mne said he read somewhere that if you are gonna shoot does don't shoot the ones with 2 or more fawns. I thought most does had 2 fawns? This is a small piece of property that isn't over populated.

 

[BSK]

Some does are better mothers than others, or are just genetically programmed to produce more twins.

But in a very healthy deer herd, ALL does should produce twins (they are designed that way--they have a biforcated uterus, meaning it has two sides, intended for two fetuses).

Now what to shoot comes down to why you are shooting does. If you are shooting does to control population, you would probably want to shoot the most productive fawn producers (the fastest way to reduce future population growth). But if you are just shooting does because they are a harvest opportunity and checking population growth is not a consideration (or population growth is desireable), then you should target adult does with the least fawns.

 

[westtntoms]

Gotcha, thanks. This is more of your second example, harvest oppty/desire to grow herd. Have there been any studies on avg # of fawns born per doe?

 

[BSK]

Most Southeastern fetal count studies find averages of 1.6 to 1.7 fetuses per doe, which means most are carrying twin fetuses. If all of those fawns are born, that would produce a fawn recruitment rate of 160 to 170% (16 or 17 fawns per 10 dult does). Considering in hardwood envirnments observed fall fawn recruitment will be around 80% (8 fawns per 10 adult does), that strongly suggests about half of all fawns born die of natural mortality before hunting season. Now in agricultural habitat, it's not uncommon to see higher observed fall fawn recruitment, say 100% or more (10+ fawns per 10 adult does) in a healthy herd.

 

[westtntoms]

Good data, thanks for the info!