bronko22000

I pulled the cards from 4 of my cameras today and I am pretty concerned that I am seeing a fair amount of mature doe but I have yet to see any fawns with them. They should be following the does around by now. I just hope the coyotes and bear in the area haven't had a buffet over the spring.
Is anyone else seeing fawns?

dougl

It's still a little early to make a determination about fawn recruitment.With that said,if there's no fawns,it's most likely attributed to poor habitat and bad winter and not predation.Once a doe loses 20-25% of her body weight the chance of her fawns surviving decrease by as much as 95%.That's exactly how the habitat controls the deer population.A deer needs several lbs/day of high quality browse to sustain themselves through winter.If they don't have that and if they don't have it in the right places,the population will crash after a couple of bad back to back winters.If that's the case and that was the case in many areas of Pa for years,the answer is toio kill more deer,not to add more deer to already stressed habitat.

dougl

We had a terrible winter in northcentral Pa both this year and last year.The lack of fawns last summer and last fall was very noticeable compared to years past.I've seen very few fawns so far this summer but you really can't judge anything until another couple of weeks.

TWOWITHONE

Was up my brothers camp in Clearfield last weekend hes got triplets up there.Maybe 1 of the does got hit or something and the other doe just took over but theres 3 of em. On the way home Sunday a fawn bolted out in front of my bro truck deer almost bought the farm and I almost bought his pickup truck.

dougl

Not saying it's impossible but I've never seen triplets in this part of the state.The other night I had 6 mature doe and two fawns together in my field.It seems like almost every deer I've been seeing lately is a smaller buck.

bronko22000

My area has a lot of browse. And I mean a lot. And there are numerous reclaimed strip mines that are grassed over. I don't think food is an issue. But then I've been known to be wrong a time or two.
I do know that there are coyote tracks everywhere when we get a little snow. We've been seeing more bear here in our area too. Just yesterday I saw a very nice sow with 3 cubs about the size of a yorkshire terrier.

Oldtimr

Not arguing that you do not have a population of coyotes Bronko, but as I am sure you know, a few dogs can make a bunch of tracks. I think it is a bit too early to tell what reproduction brought us this year.

dougl

I can't comment on what the winter was like out east.Around here,we had several feet of snow starting in January.What large quantities preferred browse species do you have and where are you located in the state?

TWOWITHONE

Might be, like I said maybe the other doe got wacked and the other doe is taking over duties this is around Glen Campbell area.

dougl

I could believe it down that way.Glen Campbell is entirely different habitat than north of I80 where I live.