njbuck22

Here in Jersey, we have Earn-A-Buck, meaning you have to shoot a doe before you can harvest a buck. Last year my hunting partner shot a doe that he thought was alone only to have 2 fawns come down the same path 10 minutes later. Obviously there is no way to be certain that the doe he shot was the mother of the fawns, but we were talking how old a fawn has to be to be able to survive on its own. I have heard that they can live without their mothers help while they still have spots. Is this true?

Legacy357

i heard the same thing..... i shot a doe two seasons ago that had 3 young ones...she still had milk in her too but i have game camera photos of all three in feb while they fed on corn after all seasons.....one of them was a button buck too....so i think they can survive almost no matter what....they may be a little dumber and get hit by a car or get shot the first thing next season but they will survive

Bees

fawns have to develope a bacteria count in thier system so they can diegest food on thier own. they get the bacteria from the mothers milk. If the mother has weened them they will survive, if she hasn't weened them yet, they might not make it..