Usually we collect the game camera cards every week, but we were a little tardy this week. We wanted to get them all cleared off in time for the fawns to start showing up. They're usually born anytime during the last week of May or the first week of June, depending on exact breeding dates. Imagine our surprise to find that there are already at least two little ones who were born by May 15th.
The following pictures were all captured by the same game camera situated in a persimmon grove (behind the camera) that is the deer's favorite feeding place, both day and night. From here they can watch the open pasture or escape pretty quickly into the deep woods.
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| This little guy is probably at least a couple days old. |
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And this little guy is a little less steady on his feet, possibly
having been born the previous night. |
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| Isn't he just too precious? |
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The shot immediately following this one on the camera card shows this one nursing,
but he's mostly blocked by his mama's legs, so I didn't include it. |
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I'm sure his mama told him to stay hidden while she ran some errands,
but he decided to be brave and get a better view of the pasture anyway. |
We know that there are at least two fawns with two separate mothers, because the does have very different coloring in their face and tail areas, and the fawns have a different distribution of 'dots' along their necks.
And even though these two are early, we know there are more to come.
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| This doe appears pregnant, although she's still tending to her yearling. |
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This doe is obviously pregnant, too, and looks like she'll deliver twins.
Last year we had several sets of twins born at Le Rustique. |
I love the game cameras and the little window they give us onto the natural world of a whole bunch of critters. One thing we've learned from them is that deer are much more actively foraging during daylight hours than we used to think. Another thing that surprised us is that raccoons, opossums and deer will eat side-by-side in the dark of night. We haven't seen a single raccoon or opossum, though, on any of the game cameras since the bobcat meandered through. I do hope he's long gone from Le Rustique now and doesn't come back looking for a little fawn for breakfast.
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