From Pregnancy to Fawns: An Entire Deer Fawning Season on Trail Cam 🐾

Описание: The magic of fawning season witnessed with the help of a single trail camera.

0:00 - Pregnant deer begin to arrive
2:14 - June 9th: First fawns appear
6:39 - Spots are beginning to fade
9:23 - Fawns becoming more independent
14:02 - Spots mostly faded as fall approaches
14:22 - Winter coats on and ready for the cold

Included are every video of mothers and fawns that we caught during the season in order. It appears that in total there were two moms, who each birthed 2 healthy fawns and you can see that sometimes each mom has one of her fawns with her and sometimes both. It's typical for mothers to stash away their kids so they can feed further afield and get a break from their kids. But I thought it was interesting that in all the clips, both mothers still had at least one fawn with them. We caught a number of videos of a lone doe but it was easy to differentiate between her and either mom as she was smaller, always very skittish and generally looked younger (she's the one really checking out the camera in one of the night clips). I believe that it is her who rejoined the family group in the final clip. I also included some videos of a couple bucks that regularly made an appearance throughout the summer because I think that the velvet on their antlers is beautiful and it's interesting to note how their behavior differs from the female deer.

Questions: How is it possible that fawns do not have scent for the beginning of their lives?? What is it about this location/area that makes it suitable for rearing fawns?

Blacktails: Blacktail deer are a subspecies of mule deer that are found in coastal regions in western North America. Females typically isolate themselves just before the birth and establish a small summer home range. While fawns are young, their mothers are challenged with keeping them safe from a wide range of potential predators, including black bears, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions. According to an un-cited Wikipedia article, fawn mortality rate is 45–70%. To help with their protection, newborns have no scent for the first week or so of their lives, which enables their mother to leave the fawns hidden while she goes off to browse and replenish her body after giving birth. After some days to weeks spent hiding in the undergrowth, the fawns are strong enough to follow their mama. Newborns and young fawns use the camouflage provided by their spotted coat to hide, remaining still for hours at a time as their mothers graze. She will suckle her offspring all summer as they gradually consume more vegetation and less milk; by late summer they are fully weaned. The fawns remain with their mothers over at least their first winter.


Species: Columbian black-tailed deer Odocoileus hemionus columbianus (subspecies of mule deer)
Location: Pacific Northwest
Sources: The Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton, Wikipedia.com
Dedicated to HCK