When do does start showing?

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Deerbuster
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When do does start showing?

Post by Deerbuster »

Went turkey hunting last Friday and I walked up on 4 does. They didn't run away so I kinda just watched them eat. I noticed that 2 of the 4 does had a little bit wider stomachs. Not a big belly but, you could tell that their stomachs where poking out more than normal.
So would this be the time that some does could start showing signs of being pregnant or area they just eating really good?

No young does either. All seemed to be 2 years or older.
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MUP
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Re: When do does start showing?

Post by MUP »

They should be dropping this month and into June. Should be showing very well at this point. ;)

Edited to say that I'm NOT a biologist, but I've picked up on some valuable intel over the years from some of the finest biologist's on this site!
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BSK
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Re: When do does start showing?

Post by BSK »

MUP is correct. Except for the southwest corner and the counties adjoining AL and MS, for TN most fawn births occur the last week of May through the first three weeks of June.
"Know where you stand and stand there" Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan

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Deerbuster
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Re: When do does start showing?

Post by Deerbuster »

Really. I don't get pictures of fawns here until the end of June to early July.
Thanks for the answers, I figured that they had to be at the start of showing that they where pregnant.
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MUP
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Re: When do does start showing?

Post by MUP »

Fawns won't begin to venture out and away with their mother for a couple of weeks from what I remember. So it stands to reason that there won't be any pics for 2-3 weeks after birth I'd say.
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Re: When do does start showing?

Post by BSK »

Again MUP is correct (guess it's time for me to retire as the "answer guy"). Fawns live very solitary lives for the first 4-6 weeks of their lives. To protect them from predators, their mother allows her fawn(s) to hide him or her self while she feeds at sometimes considerable distance. The only time she rejoins her fawn is to feed him/her. She will return to the area where she left the fawn and call to them, which brings them out of hiding. After feeding, she takes the fawn to a new area and leaves it, allowing the fawn to find his/her own hiding spot on his or her own. This prevents the mother's scent from providing an easy to track scent trail directly to the fawn that a predator could follow.
"Know where you stand and stand there" Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into" Jonathan Swift
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MUP
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Re: When do does start showing?

Post by MUP »

I'm still just a student BSK! :D First I've heard of how the mother drops off her young, letting them find their own hiding spot, so as not to leave a scent trail to them. Cool. :)
[Image We score trophies, but every hunt is, to some extent, a way of measuring ourselves.
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