i shot a doe last friday and when i was skinning it, and noticed it had a lot of what looks to be back fat...it was under the skin but above the meat...

i've never seen this happen before and was wondering if it was normal or not.

and what might be the cause of this?

Ya the more fat a deer has the more serious a winter is going to be... usually. You must not live in a very cold state.

yeah pretty much...a north carolina winter is prett mild

good sign, plenty to eat and cold winter ahead

well my step dad killed a doe the first week in muzzleloader and it had tons of fat on it but when i killed my buck friday it didnt have much at all, it had a big body but not much fat.

Most of the deer up my way are loaded with fat now,good sign bundle up!

I would say cougars09 the reason your buck didn't have much fat on it was because it was really rutting with the does. i shot a buck a week ago during the wisconsin gun season and it had no back fat on it, and i suspect it was rutting a lot. it's normal.

Sounds to me like they have been eating good. Lots of mast here in Missouri. I think the bad winter thing is an old wife's tale.