Ripper Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I have lived in my current house in Northern Ontario, Canada for 9 years, and for all those years, about he middle of January the deer move out of my bush and travel to their wintering grounds. This year, I have 5 fawns, that have stayed behind. There are no does or bucks, just 5 fawns here and are within 200 yards of my house at all times. We have very little snow compared to most years which may be why they didn't travel or is it because they are fawns and don't know where to travel? Should I start feeding them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Re: Fawns in Winter Welcome to the forums My guess is Mama got shot They should survive no problem if you're having a mild winter. If you do decide to feed them, I would do it away from the house so they don't get tamed down. It won't help them come hunting season, and they'll just hang around and eat all your wife's flowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Re: Fawns in Winter Welcome to the forums. Would tend to agree with buckee here. The momma does probably got shot or have been pushed away and for whatever reasons not returned. Dont know about feeding them. If there is not good food sources available, might consider feeding them, but like buckee says here would do it away from the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripper Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Re: Fawns in Winter Thanks buckee and wtnhunt. There is not a high deer population in my area and doe tags are tough to get. If the does from these five fawns have died, it was probably not from the hunt, not all of them anyway. If we get more snow, I may look at supplimental feeding them but for now, I'll let them fend for themselves, even at the expense of every low hanging branch in the area. Thanks again to you both! Ripper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonhunter Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Re: Fawns in Winter [ QUOTE ] Welcome to the forums My guess is Mama got shot They should survive no problem if you're having a mild winter. If you do decide to feed them, I would do it away from the house so they don't get tamed down. It won't help them come hunting season, and they'll just hang around and eat all your wife's flowers. [/ QUOTE ] Go with steve here, we had some fawns like that my last year in Ohio, i shot a doe out of my field that year and always wondered if that was mom. Regardless i used to scatter hay in our back corner for them through jan, feb, and early march. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Re: Fawns in Winter With 5 fawns, you may only be talking about 2 does. Not uncommon for older does to have twins or even triplets occasionally. Possible the does have been pushed off during the rut by chasing bucks, possible they could have become roadkill, or might also be possible they are around and you just are not seeing them. Funny thing about fawns, they are often times not just real careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 Re: Fawns in Winter I would bet the mothers are just fine! The doe deer will move to wintering areas, sometimes the fawns will follow, sometimes not. The mothers won't and don't share well. They are interested only in their own survival. They won't hang back and wait for fawns. I'd safely bet the mothers and fawns will meet up at some point, you won't even notice. Someday you will look out and wonder where they went. I wouldn't feed them. You risk taking them out of their natural survival mode. Let them be. They will be just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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