Deer Mama 2 B's

Best wishes to all the mamas and mamas-to-be! (This upcoming Mother's Day inspired me to create and publish this article and video.)

I recorded some deer 4/21. I noticed one that I was able to keep in view looked belly-rounded. Made a mental Post-It to look up doe pregnancy for possible time of year commonality. One of my curiosities was what a pregnant doe looked like.

My inquiry for Google images for "pregnant does" yielded images of pregnant women, no deer at all, guessing Google interpreted my image inquiry as pregnancy does and don'ts. Image Googling "pregnant deer" yielded lots of pregnant deer. (Whoa! Some images astounded me!) A Google image hit for "what does a pregnant deer look like" yielded similar images, many overlapping the previous image results.

Spotted and recorded some snippets of does 5/7. Most of the does looked svelte, but one or two looked slightly distended. Re-viewing the 4/21 clip helped with visual comparisons. My video includes both pregnant and non-pregnant does.

Curious about doe pregnancy and fawn birth? Lead-ups to the process? "How Long Are Deer Pregnant? [Gestation Period For Deer]" explains deer season regarding "rutting", mating, doe gestation, and a table of various deer types and number of days for pregnancy.

What's rutting? Why do we talk about being in a rut, a bad thing? Why does it seem that rutting is so often associated with deer?
"In a Rut - Breeding Season Behaviors in Deer" explains:

The term "rut" is often used to describe a boring, monotonous routine or a trench worn in the ground by a wheel. However, if you hang around much in white-tailed deer hunting circles, chances are that it means something completely different. Many people use the term rut only in reference to the peak of the breeding season, but it really applies to a much more extended period of time. The rut refers to all behaviors and activities associated with the breeding season.

Additional resources:

"Spotting" Whitetail Deer Fawns" states, "A doe goes into estrus in the fall, which means whitetail deer fawns are normally born sometime between late April and early July."

"Understanding Deer" provides more details about mom and fawns:

Spring and summer is the time of year deer give birth to their young. A deer may have between one and three babies, two being most common. Fawns are born from April though June. They are born with their eyes open and fully furred.

"HOW TO TELL IF THAT FAWN REALLY NEEDS YOUR HELP???" provides still more details, including emphasis to post-birth behavior.

As early as April, but most often in May and June, you may find a White-tailed Deer fawn curled up in your lawn, garden, bushes, or nearby field or trees. You may think it has been abandoned, but most of the time this is not the case. White-tailed does spend a small portion of the pre-dawn hours looking for a quiet, secluded spot to place their fawn(s) that are three weeks of age and under, as they will not be able to keep up with the doe’s pace.

For blog articles pertaining to deer, use search feature at the upper left of th4e website. For videos, go to my YouTube link for deer playlist (Oh, deer!)