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Does without fawns?
#2538456
08/27/11 05:20 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 83
yellowboat04
OP
Outdoorsman
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OP
Outdoorsman
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 83 |
This topic may have been discussed before, but I am new to this forum. I put my camera out about 2 wks ago, and have pics of 5 different does. One is with a 1.5 to 2 yr cow horn spike, another with fawn. The other three have nothing. I have two question. 1) Do you all believe that the doe with the spike is barron? 2) Should we be worried about the other 3 does not having fawn?
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: yellowboat04]
#2538474
08/27/11 05:33 PM
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 11,124
LandPirate
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 11,124 |
We're in the middle of the worst drought in known history. Many does had to kick their fawns off so they could survive. I don't think I'd try to draw any conclusions until this drought is over with.
Mike Buda, Tx Hunt near Freer
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: LandPirate]
#2538488
08/27/11 05:41 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 9,154
KWood_TSU
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 9,154 |
Fawn crop this year is low. If I remember correctly, fawn crop is around 27% from what we saw on survey lines.
Amat Victoria Curam - Victory Loves Preparation
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: KWood_TSU]
#2538567
08/27/11 06:17 PM
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 14,956
don k
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Posts: 14,956 |
Fawn crop this year is low. If I remember correctly, fawn crop is around 27% from what we saw on survey lines. Around here it is about 0%. All the fawns I had seen earlier are DOA. Every time I see buzzards milling around I find a dead fawn. If it doesn't do something soon the larger deer are going to go.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: don k]
#2538645
08/27/11 06:59 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Jimbo_47
Light Foot
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Light Foot
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 31 |
I haven't been out to the lease in over a month and a half, and I figured I'd go and sit this morning and see what showed up, and mainly to see if I could see some fawns.
I was surprised as we haven't had much rain in the eastern part of what is considered south Texas, but maybe a stray shower here and there in what seems like forever.
Anyway it's dry like everywhere else but the creek bottom I hunt has a lot of mesquite beans but the creek is dry. There are also several ranches in the area that raise cattle, and so they irrigate, and have, or have had crops planted so the deer have it better than most.
The two of us went this morning, and the other guy saw about ten hogs that came to his feeder, and he also saw several does and a couple of fawns with one doe.
I was sitting in a stand about half a mile away and I saw 11 does, 5 fawns and six bucks, with two that had high racks, long tines and racks that would probably measure from 15" to 18" wide on the larger buck, with the other three being young forkhorns with one being a spike.
They all seemed to be in good body condition with the does that had the single fawns looking a little lean, but no more than usual as in a normal year.
So overall, I was pleasantly surprised.
I put out a couple cameras, so I'm hoping to get some good pictures in the near future.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Jimbo_47]
#2538734
08/27/11 07:47 PM
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,853
Texan Til I Die
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,853 |
My trailcams are showing somewhere around a 25% fawn recruitment. Gonna be some bad years for bucks in the future.
Silver spurs and gold tequila keep me hanging on. Pretty girls and old cantinas give me shelter from the storm.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Texan Til I Die]
#2538813
08/27/11 08:35 PM
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 13,735
helomech
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 13,735 |
Most of the does on my place seem to have a fawn, at least half of them. Had one fawn running down the road in front of me this morning, and when she tried to turn to leave the road if slid and fell, but got up and ran off.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Texan Til I Die]
#2538845
08/27/11 09:00 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Jimbo_47
Light Foot
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Light Foot
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 31 |
My trailcams are showing somewhere around a 25% fawn recruitment. Gonna be some bad years for bucks in the future. Deer are some tough critters and have been surviving since hunters used stone arrow heads, so it's natures way of taking care of overpopulation. Texas has a very large deer population and it can use some help in lowering those numbers when the populations get too high for the land to support, so in the long term we should see better quality in the years down the road. Isn't much we can do about it, and we are just in one of those cycles that we just have to do the best we can with what we've got!
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Jimbo_47]
#2538882
08/27/11 09:16 PM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 5,271
Palehorse
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 5,271 |
If there's no rain, there is less grass for the fawns to hide in. They become lunch for the coyotes. I'll bet we have a yote population boom before this drought is over. Nature is one bad mother sometimes.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Palehorse]
#2539298
08/28/11 12:44 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 902
MogulRanch
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 902 |
weve been lucky on the fawns... already seen countless fawns but there have been a noticeable amount of doe without fawns
weird to see it considering that I was seeing triplets last year and was getting worried about overpopulation
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: MogulRanch]
#2539303
08/28/11 12:46 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 902
MogulRanch
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 902 |
oh and to comment in response to palehorse... maybe we are looking a lot better since the only thing we cant get rid of are bobcats
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: MogulRanch]
#2539332
08/28/11 12:57 AM
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,484
BowSlayer
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,484 |
On our place we rarely get many pictures of fawns this early. They will start showing up a little later on when they start moving more.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: BowSlayer]
#2539339
08/28/11 12:59 AM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 6,483
jim1961
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 6,483 |
Our fawn crop is down this year with the drought. By the way welcome to the forum
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: jim1961]
#2542427
08/29/11 04:10 AM
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 60,296
stxranchman
Obie Juan Kenobi
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Obie Juan Kenobi
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 60,296 |
Fawn numbers can be down or up due to lots of reason. Where exactly are you at? Just because fawns are not in pics does not mean the doe does not have any, they may just be on the outside area around the feeder. Remember they are not born knowing what corn is and when young they do not eat feed other than milk until around 5 or 6 weeks of age. If in deep South Texas your fawns might be just being born and still in hiding and not traveling with the doe. Grazing pressure and lack of fawning cover can greatly effect numbers if you are in areas with high predator numbers. Deer numbers on the range and the amount of browse you have can effect numbers. Supplemental feed will greatly effect numbers of survivors if they have cover to hide in. If all or some of these things are happening or not happening then the doe will likely walk off from the fawn/fawns to save herself so she can recover to breed this fall and start over next summer. I have been on quite a few ranches in the last 5 weeks now and I can tell you fawn numbers range from 0% on most to as high as 50-60% on a couple of well managed ones.
Are idiots multiplying faster than normal people?
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: stxranchman]
#2542448
08/29/11 04:18 AM
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 44,461
rifleman
Sparkly Pants
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Sparkly Pants
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 44,461 |
spike with doe is likely to be last year's twins... or he's still hanging with his mama and she wasn't successfully bred to have the encourangement to run him off.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: rifleman]
#2546639
08/30/11 05:15 PM
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 51
Brewboy
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 51 |
We just did our MLD counts this past weekend south of Sweetwater and every doe we saw had no fawns with them. On the third count, we spotted 3 fawns bedded together under some shin oaks.
We summized that the does had kicked them off to survive on their own early due to the dry year. The fawns had pulled together forming their own group.
So with only 3 fawns spotted, I'm still happy to see that. At least some survived till now.
Scott Townson
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Brewboy]
#2546793
08/30/11 06:07 PM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 39,588
redchevy
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 39,588 |
I wont go as far to call us well managed, but we have good cover and brush have water availale and have been feeding and try to keep our numbers in check according to our census data. We have seen multiple sets of twins still with mommas and all deer are looking healthy so far. I bet the areas of the state that were caught in fires and havent gotten rain are hurting thought!
matt
It's hell eatin em live
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: redchevy]
#2547440
08/30/11 09:47 PM
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 312
Hunter Lee
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 312 |
I feel pretty lucky that most of the does we've seen on our place have a fawn or twin fawns! I'm sure having water on our place helps! We even got a pic of twin fawns feeding off of momma! Hey Palehorse we are working on keeping our coyote population down too!!
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Hunter Lee]
#2547771
08/30/11 11:39 PM
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 14,956
don k
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 14,956 |
Looking for buzzards and have started finding some dead larger deer. Found a dead spike this afternoon. I don't think we have had 3" of rain since last Oct. If it doesn't do something in Sept. there is going to be a record die off in this area.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: don k]
#2547781
08/30/11 11:45 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,741
passthru
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,741 |
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: Hunter Lee]
#2547862
08/31/11 12:17 AM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 5,271
Palehorse
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 5,271 |
Hey Palehorse we are working on keeping our coyote population down too!! Hell yea!
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: yellowboat04]
#2547876
08/31/11 12:23 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,787
scattergun
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,787 |
This topic may have been discussed before, but I am new to this forum. I put my camera out about 2 wks ago, and have pics of 5 different does. One is with a 1.5 to 2 yr cow horn spike, another with fawn. The other three have nothing. I have two question. 1) Do you all believe that the doe with the spike is barron? 2) Should we be worried about the other 3 does not having fawn? Never had a camera. Hunted without them for 40+ years. Just takes the fun out of it for me.
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Re: Does without fawns?
[Re: scattergun]
#2547915
08/31/11 12:39 AM
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 5,095
FamousAmos
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 5,095 |
Drought is making it very tough on the fawn crop.
“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
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