Question about Doe w/yearlings

[Coker]

I am still seeing quite a few doe with yearlings this time of year. Can anyone explain why mom hasn't kicked the kid to the curb? Will their estrus cycle come later than normal or at all? I am seeing rutting activity but not as heavy as years past. Just trying to figure it out for future hunts.

 

[WORM82]

I'm in the same boat. Last year I seen the same doe and 2 fawns almost everytime I hunted and I don't think she ever ran them off the whole season unless she was bred in early oct then let her fawns come back. Seen a doe and fawns today on my way to work

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I know they run off buck fawns, but I've seen them stay with doe fawns all year. I once killed a buck running a doe ragged, with a doe fawn following along so she didnt get separated.

 

[double browtine]

I know they run off buck fawns, but I've seen them stay with doe fawns all year. I once killed a buck running a doe ragged, with a doe fawn following along so she didnt get separated.

This very thing happened to my son and I this year. He killed the 12 pointer That was following.

Years ago, we had a big doe that had triple button bucks 2 Years in a row. However, she was smart and would blow you out if she smelled you. I don't mean blow and leave. She would blow 30 times and stay just out of range. My friend shot a big for for the freezer later that year and I think it was her.

I might get blasted for saying this, but I usually shoot does with fawns late season. And then shoot a fawn too if they don't run off. I call it filling the freezer. Sometimes I wonder if some does always have doe fawns

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I've got absolutely no problem shooting a doe with fawns, especially late in the year. And, if I can verify that it is a doe fawn and not a button, she better not stay around. According to BSK's old posts, I think there is quite a bit of evidence to show that killing a doe with a button buck will increase the chance that the buck making that area his core area when he's older. Otherwise, the momma eventually runs him off and he goes in search of greener pastures.

 

[catman529]

Sometimes they run em off sometimes they don't. And you may see one doe with fawns one day, then another doe with fawns another day, while the first has gone into heat and the second has got back with her fawns. Nothing is for sure with deer, they do their thing one way or another


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[Headhunter]

Anytime I shoot a doe, and it can be any part of the season I ALWAYS shoot a momma doe, preferably with little ones and LEAVE the little ones alone. They will not die and especially if she has a button buck shoot momma. Most likely the button buck will make that area his home and if you do not shoot the momma doe with a button buck or even better multiple buttons, then you don't have to worry about those buck because the momma for will run them off and keep them out of her area.

 

[AT Hiker]

I am still seeing quite a few doe with yearlings this time of year. Can anyone explain why mom hasn't kicked the kid to the curb? Will their estrus cycle come later than normal or at all? I am seeing rutting activity but not as heavy as years past. Just trying to figure it out for future hunts.

My experience this year almost exactly. I seen 7 does last night, some yearlings, not a buck to be seen. I have also seen a few lone does wondering and not a buck to be seen. The only chasing I have seen is of 1.5 yr old bucks and most big mature deer brought into me lately have not been "rutting" according to the hunter. Im assuming they meant no chasing.


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[Mike Belt]

I've seen a few bucks following behind does in the last few days but no chasing yet. Some of the other guys have seen some limited chasing. The does I'm seeing are still with fawns and in glassing their hocks, they don't appear to be in heat yet. I'm sure there are a few scattered about. Typically when they do enter estrus they won't be with fawns unless they just haven't been separated from the doe family group by a tending buck yet.

I eat the meat but most of the season I'm not a meat hunter. When I do choose to shoot does I try for the biggest I see. Even then I don't target fawns simply because there just doesn't seem to be enough meat on them to make it worth my effort.

 

[megalomaniac]

Here's the way it works...

Does separate from their extended family groups to fawn in early summer. The mothers and offspring spend time alone until around the time the spots come off the fawns. At that point, doe groups begin forming back up again. Does that did not have fawns or does that lost fawns will group back up with each other earlier than those does with fawns. As does come into heat, they break off from the family group and their fawns to be bred. Her fawns will try to stay as close to mom as possible, but often young bucks chase the mother farther and faster than the fawns can keep up with. After breeding, the doe will go back and rejoin her fawns.

After the majority of does have been bred, they form large extended family groups in December. Button bucks have usually wandered off by now, but a few will still remain in the extended doe family group until spring. And then the process repeats itself.

USUALLY, the first does to come into heat each year are the adult does that do not have a fawn. Their superior body conditioning in late fall allows them to ovulate earlier. This is followed by 1.5 year old does (without fawns), then adult does with fawns. Very few doe fawns come into estrous on my farms at all their first season. By realizing where you are in the rut cycle, and knowing which does use which areas, I've found that I can target the adult does without fawns and use them to get to the older bucks before other hunters. Later in the rut, I focus on the does that I've seen with fawns earlier in the season. Works pretty darn well.

 

[Winchester]

Here's the way it works...

Does separate from their extended family groups to fawn in early summer. The mothers and offspring spend time alone until around the time the spots come off the fawns. At that point, doe groups begin forming back up again. Does that did not have fawns or does that lost fawns will group back up with each other earlier than those does with fawns. As does come into heat, they break off from the family group and their fawns to be bred. Her fawns will try to stay as close to mom as possible, but often young bucks chase the mother farther and faster than the fawns can keep up with. After breeding, the doe will go back and rejoin her fawns.

After the majority of does have been bred, they form large extended family groups in December. Button bucks have usually wandered off by now, but a few will still remain in the extended doe family group until spring. And then the process repeats itself.

USUALLY, the first does to come into heat each year are the adult does that do not have a fawn. Their superior body conditioning in late fall allows them to ovulate earlier. This is followed by 1.5 year old does (without fawns), then adult does with fawns. Very few doe fawns come into estrous on my farms at all their first season. By realizing where you are in the rut cycle, and knowing which does use which areas, I've found that I can target the adult does without fawns and use them to get to the older bucks before other hunters. Later in the rut, I focus on the does that I've seen with fawns earlier in the season. Works pretty darn well.

Well said, and the doe fawns will only come in to estrous once they reach a certain weight. (different sizes in different geographic locations) Only a % make it to this weight early enough.