Fawns with spots

[rides bike to work]

So last week near kelowna a local guy told me about how many white tail does he had seen with fawns that still had spots. We didn't see any our selves but today when I pulled my trail cams on bites cams I had does with fawns with spots from the past week. That tells me there must have been a late rut last year. Does that mean things could be late this year as well. Anyone else notice this.

[Salix]

Hunting in the Peace in mid Sept saw a whitetail fawn with its spots still.
Not sure how it will impact the rut this year.

[tater]

That tells me there must have been a late rut last year. Does that mean things could be late this year as well. Anyone else notice this.

Rut happens the same time every year. What you are seeing is the consequence of a buck to doe ratio that is skewed. A doe that isn't covered in first estrous (as she should be in a population with a proper ratio) will come into estrous a few weeks later and possibly be bred then. This means her fawn(s) will drop later than first estrous bred fawns.

[rides bike to work]

The other thing we have observed in the field and on cameras is bucks with barely even nubs yet the are good sized deer not this years bucks.

[HarryToolips]

Rut happens the same time every year. What you are seeing is the consequence of a buck to doe ratio that is skewed. A doe that isn't covered in first estrous (as she should be in a population with a proper ratio) will come into estrous a few weeks later and possibly be bred then. This means her fawn(s) will drop later than first estrous bred fawns.
That is a possibility, but with the wt doe season, the sex ratio shouldnt be nearly as skewed..after reading on the whitetails biology, I would believe it is just does that are bred in the 2nd estrous period, like you said, but a lot of these does are not even a year old, as wt doe fawns who are born in May-June they say can breed by the 2nd estrous period, ie only 7 months or so old...mule deer does can't do that at that age..this is a major biological advantage as a species that the whitetails have over mule deer, thus helping them in withstanding heavy hunting pressure and/or predation compared to mule deer..

[rides bike to work]

In four days near beaver lake dee lake area we saw nothing but white tails not a single mule in quite a large area as we covered a lot of ground.

[.264winmag]

Rut happens the same time every year. What you are seeing is the consequence of a buck to doe ratio that is skewed. A doe that isn't covered in first estrous (as she should be in a population with a proper ratio) will come into estrous a few weeks later and possibly be bred then. This means her fawn(s) will drop later than first estrous bred fawns.

Plenty of bucks to breed our does and we still got cute little spotty buggers as we speak...

[.264winmag]

I used to find the smallest youngest blacktail does I could on the island in Dec. Guess who'd have their snout up her arse;)

[Edzzed]

We were in Logan lake 1st week of September and saw 2 that had spots. 3rd one did not nor did the 2 adult females. We went back for 2 weeks in October. Saw the same family and their spots were gone. It's like 2 adult females and their 3 kids. They are local deer to the area.

[M.Dean]

Maybe wait til after the WT doe season is over, bet you won't find a fawn any wheres, spots or not!

[orangestepside]

i saw a muley fawn full spots and a whitey fawn full spots aswell first week of october in 8-6

[brian]

Photoperiodism is what determines the time of the rut. Its the same thing that controls when they grow their antlers, shed their velvet, and shed or grow their winter coats. It happens the same time every year. What differs is how much of it hunters see happening. What you are seeing is the consequence of does not being bred on their first couple of estrous cycles and thus dropping fawns later. Maybe a big dominate buck in the area was shooting blanks? Who knows.