spotted fawn triplets

spotted fawn triplets

grazing on long grass run to

their mother to nurse

These fawns are grazing in the grass not far from the low fence around our house with no other whitetail deer in sight. Perhaps they are the offspring of more than one mother, though it's fairly common for mature does to have twins (67 percent) and not uncommon to have triplets (12 percent). After awhile, one doe appears and the fawns all run to her to nurse. Busy mother! Whitetail fawns are born in late spring or early summer. Their reddish-brown coats have several hundred white spots, as camouflage in the shifting sunlight of the woods. The spots gradually disappear after three or four months. They begin eating vegetation a few weeks after birth and are weaned around four months. By six months they may begin breeding. Healthy, well-nourished whitetail deer are prolific breeders. On average, 100 does will produce 104 offspring, though about one out of three of the fawns will not survive until autumn. Deer usually browse on grass only in the spring and fall. The rest of the year they eat native forbs, especially sunflowers (I have had deer jump our low fence to eat sunflower seeds out of the bird feeder), and woody vegetation such as wild rose, wild plum, chokecherry, dogwood, pine and red cedar. Unfortunately for people with orchards, they are very fond of fruit trees. Unfortunately for the deer, they also love corn and will browse extensively on fields of genetically engineered commercial corn, with all its pesticides and herbicides.