Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Fallow Deer 5
Does produce usually one but sometimes two fawns per year. It is very important that the does be as heavy as possible at the start of the breeding season, since the fawn at birth will be 10% of the doe's breeding body weight. The gestation period is 234 days … seven and a half months (plus or minus 6 days). Does appear restless one or two days prior to fawning and move away from the herd. Most fawns are born from late May through June.

Cover (tall grass or bush) is necessary in the fawning pasture to protect newborn fawns from heat, wind, and/or predators. Fawns will "hide" in the cover for 10 to 14 days after birth, except when suckling every few hours. Once the fawn becomes strong enough, it will run with its mother. At about two months of age, the fawn starts to rely less on milk and more on its own foraging ability.
At birth fawns can be as varied in color as the adults but all will be spotted to a greater or lesser degree.
The doe leaves the fawn alone most of the day, returning only for nursing; a fawn learns to recognize its mother by her bleat.

The doe is the most vocal of the sexes and she will communicate with her fawn and other members of the doe group with a variety of squeaks and bleats throughout the year. They utter a sound similar to a dog's bark when nervous. The buck only develops the deep groaning belch during the rut when this call is repeated continuously every couple of seconds for a period of time. This calling goes on throughout the period of the rut, however should a doe come into estrus late this is sufficient to start all the bucks in an area groaning again.

When undisturbed the deer can be seen feeding at all times of the day, however the main feeding activity takes place around dawn and the late afternoon or evening. Between these times they lie up in some undisturbed place to ruminate and chew the cud. Fallow deer prefer to feed at dusk and dawn and rest during the day. They prefer to graze in grassy open areas.
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