Fawn question

[Lost Arra]

How mobile are 1 week old fawns?

How long does mom hide them in the grass while she feeds?

My "backyard" doe had her fawn(s) on either Monday June 4 or Tuesday the 5th. I still haven't seen the young ones and I'm hoping the local thugs (coyotes) haven't got 'em. I've left the fields uncut where she hid her twins last year. I'm hoping to get some photos.

[Whip]

I found a fawn the weekend of May 19th - very tiny and obviously newborn then.  A little over a week later was the first time we saw them out with her, and even then normally she would be alone.  Only in the past week or so does it seem like they are always with her.  If you're seeing her frequently I'm sure they are close by.

[Lost Arra]

We see her almost daily. She is feeding on the edge of an uncut field. She is always alone now.

Only recently have her yearling fawns not been with her. One of the yearlings is a buck and he had already started keeping to himself.

[Tom Leemans]

Once they start feeding on solid food, they'll be mobile because they'll emit a scent. When they're still newborns, so to speak, mom keeps them clean and as long as they don't move, they'll be passed by because they'll have virtually no scent. Mom moves them when she moves or when they've left any waste that she can smell. I've watched video of a coyote standing with a fawn laying a foot away and the coyote was unaware and moved on. Nature is cool!

[Tall Paul]

Like Lost Arra, I am also in Oklahoma.

Our first "back yard fawn"  appeared on Monday, June 4th.  Since then, the doe is seen daily in the same area, but the fawn hasn't been seen again.

With a 200 day gestation period, that means both does were bred on November 15th.

[Dave2old]

LA -- It depends on lots of variables, plus what you mean by "hides them in the grass while she feeds." As soon as they're able to wobble around, she moves them from the birth spot. She'll continue moving them from time to time to keep the scent down. Only when they're able to outrun most predators will you start seeing them in the open with mom. I was born and raised and came to hunting in OK, back when only the Cookson Hills had deer. Today, here in CO, with mule deer (not much different than whiteys in this regard), we keep our dogs under close control for a month after June 15, which is the peak of fawning. Thanks for looking after your future deer population by not mowing. Along with market hunting, one of the most devastating practices to American wildlife in the early 1900s was "clean" farming, where they plowed and cut as close to  fencelines as possible, using every foot for ag and leaving no hiding cover for wildlife. Studies of predation show that it's only a real problem for newborns where hiding cover is insufficient, for whatever reason (drought, overgrazing, recent fire, clean farming ...). Use a telephoto, and good luck. Dave

[Lost Arra]

Dave: "hiding them in the grass": last year we watched the doe come into the field (uncut) with the twins. The twins would lay down and mom would move about 100-200 yards into an edge area and browse around alone. She rarely went directly back to them but made a wide circle to them usually getting to them just before dark. Sometimes they would bed there at least for a while. It got dark and I couldn't see them but I found their beds in the morning.

I definitely use a telephoto or just hope they wander by my trail cam.