Bucks chasing does and active scrapes!
West Virginia
Ok so I was driving home in Upshur County yesterday and I see a yearling doe running down the hill into a bottom and I noticed another deer coming down the same path with it's nose to the ground, I stop my vehicle and watch until it hit the bottom and I be damn it was a nice buck chasing after the doe, nice wide antlers probably an 8 point but could not count them due to the low light and the deer moving! I look up behind it and 2 more deer came down to the bottom and both were smaller bucks who both stopped as soon as they hit the bottom watching the bigger buck which was 60-70 yards ahead of them! January 5th and bucks chasing does.....wow...I called my friend and told him and he said people all over Facebook seeing the same stuff happening!! Active scrapes, chasing, buck rubs, wow ! According to our lovely DNR breeding is long over!!
Young doe or doe that didnt get breed will come back in estrus, i have see bucks chasing doe in February before , this is why we have a late fawn birth.
Yes so I read! But everything I read says 26 days after the primary rut unbred does and younger does will come into estrus but now is pretty darn late for that if you go by the biologists data!!
That’s what happens with an out of balance buck/doe ratio. Late born fawns will come into estrus late then they have late born fawns and the cycle goes on. That’s why some people see spotted fawns into sept -Nov.
Perhaps the DNR should consider bow season stretching into the middle of January!! Not many hunters would be out but some like myself just might be!! Some other states seasons go into January!! :-)
The Holy Grail of deer hunting , QDMA, says that doe fawns in a healthy environment will breed from 6 to 8 months of age. The percentage is unknown but what is a given is it takes a healthy herd to do so. Once again, according to the QDMA. Don;t take my word for it though. Check out the link. Since the OP said it was a small doe, I'll stick with this explanation versus an older late doe missed twice due to an out of balance buck to doe ratio
Nice post mountaineer - I was just going to post how a friend who was hunting in Ohio today with his son saw chasing going on as well.
Good information on that link WV Mountaineer!!
Mountaineer, maybe you can google the best ways to combat coyote predation on fawns and let us know what you find?
And do you know what % of fawns get bred in WV?
The reason I ask is because the question is are these fawns that are getting bred late or are they older does that didn’t get bred during first rut and are coming back into heat later . I’ll admit I don’t know the answer for sure but my gut tells me that they are older does that didn’t get bred the first time around. I base that reading that I’ve done that suggests that fawn breeding is more common in high Ag areas such as Iowa and Illinois. Although, I could see it happening in places like here during high mast years because they could put on the weight and get the fat content high enough to trigger hormone response to go into estrus.
Well the original poster said it was a yearling doe in this case.
Well that would make sense, since by definition a yearling is a deer at least 1 year old and in its second year of life. It wouldn’t be a fawn then.
Guess it all depends on what he considers a yearling LOL
IDK what everyone considers a yearling, but I do know what one is.
One thing we agree on LOL but I know some who consider a fawn a yearling.
No doubt in my mind it was last year's fawn so it was what most call a yearling! Also on December 30th in Harrison County while hunting in the snow I found a pretty fresh scrape with 2 spots of urine in it! If you zoom in on it you can see it and it snowed alot that morning and day so you can definitely see how it was being used!
I have seen scrape activity at this time for years - if you check out some of the synthetic scent companies they will have videos of licking branches hit all year long. When you say last years fawn do you mean from 2017 or 2016? I just don’t find this all that strange. Now if you saw a bunch of doe chasing activity maybe but a couple or one is normal.
I call fawns, deer that were born in May or June perhaps early July. Yearlings were born the year before, so to answer your question I am talking about a young deer born in that time frame in 2016! I've been hunting for 35+ years now and have always seen late scrapes, bucks chasing does in December and January, hell even seen wall hanger bucks with their racks into the middle of March while at the same time shot a deer in early December that I mistook as a doe only to realize it was a buck which lost its horns already! Nothing in wildlife surprises me but everything you read from biologists and so called experts say differently!
Then I think you are right. The reason I sought the distinction is because Mountaineer seemed to be implying that it was a 6-8 month old fawn that was breeding. And the reason he sought that distinction was to highlight that we have such a healthy Deer herd that they are breeding at 6-8 months of age . I maintain that fawns breeding in WV would be a very uncommon occurrence. I’m not saying it has never happened but it would be most unusual.
I am telling you something must be wrong with Berkeley County then - I am not going to say fawn does breed all the time here but it is not uncommon at all.
RunNgun I am not doubting or saying you or wrong it’s just confusing because the year just changed and when we are at the beginning of a new year. In the one post you say last years fawn so some may think 2017 while others say oh a yearling must mean 2016. So it’s just confusing not a big deal. I bet it was still fun to watch no matter!
No doubt JayD, no problem!! Definitely was cool to watch! Bad thing, it was the biggest buck I had seen all year! Made me shake my head and smile wondering how many more big uns are out there that made it thru the seasons!!
Greg, if the OP meant a 1.5 year old deer, then that is what he meant. I admit that wasn't the way I took his post. And, I didn't imply it to suggest WV had a healthy herd, I KNOW they have a healthy herd. To clarify, I stated that because I've seen you declare that change was coming. WE all know it is something you personally want and, at times you've spared little effort not promoting it.
I think I answered the number of breeding fawns in WV when I said in the original post that the percentage is unknown.
As far as fawns not breeding, my mileage differs from yours once again. However, I believe it to be much more likely today than 10 years ago. I have personally watched Numerous bucks chase does into February in the bow only counties. 3 different times in January and once in February. And, I'm certain they were less than a year old. God Bless men
That’s what’s great about America, we are all entitled to our opinions
