ORIGINAL: R.S.B.
There is no question that bears, coyote, bobcat, fox and even raccoon will kill new born fawns when they stumble onto them or otherwise find one they can catch pretty easily. It is also a fact that where fawns have suitable habitat predation is not a significant factor in limiting deer populations. Fawn predation can be significant where deer don’t have suitable ground cover or under story though. So, fawn survival rates are pretty much a matter of the habitat being able to support more deer or not. If the habitat can’t support more deer it is a blessing for the future of the species if a higher percentage of the fawns fall victim to predation.
People also prey on fawns. I know of several fawns that are now dead because people captured them and took them home. In fact, I will be filing charges on one such case next week and have another active investigation of a car load of teenagers catching a fawn, putting it in a car and taking off. I’m still working on that one.
All bears get two tags the first time they are captured. Bears, especially males, tend to fight and rip tags out, so we put one in each ear to make sure it they lose one we still have one to allow us to collect the past capture history. If we catch a bear with a tag missing we replace it with a new tag. I just caught a 250 pound male with one tag missing a couple weeks ago. He left with one old tag and one new tag.
R.S. Bodenhorn
Thanks for the info! As far as the habit on the land in the pic.... I have 2 1/2 acres of Timothy Hay/Weed mix(from horse manure being spread)that is 4 to 5foot high. I will be leaving it stand until the end of this month reason being I have seen doe lead their young into this thick stuff and until the little onescan travel and keep up with mom I want to reduce the chances of them being preyed upon.
Also, another question.. Last year the majority of the bears had been denning up before the bear season started due to lack of food. Why doesn't the PAGC hold out on deciding season dates for bear based off variables such as predicted accessibility to food- acorn harvest. It seems everything is in place as it is to ensure the bear population continues to grow to levels that aren't ideal for all game species including bears themselves.Or is it the goal to have our bear population grow even larger?It's hard to reduce their numbers in an effective way when most of them are denning up and not moving to save calories rather than expend more calories searching for food than they will replace prior to us hunters having the ability to hunt them.