Whitetail Deer

I may have mentioned before that a small herd of deer frequently visit our yard, most of the time just passing through to the creek or over the neighbors fence to the pond. (Occasionally munching on my hosta and other so-called "deer-resistant" plants.) In the winter, we see 8 to 12 of them together. But in the spring, I see one doe and her fawns regularly. The first year I noticed her, there was one fawn. Last spring she had two. These photos are of her and her offspring, yearlings now.

whitetail doe photo by Adrienne in Ohio


whitetail doe photo by Adrienne in OHio


The mama is most definitely expecting again. These photos were taken on May 15th. The last two sightings this week have only been of one of the yearlings. I'm wondering how many new fawns I may see this year.

pregnant whitetail doe photo by Adrienne Zwart


My blogging friend Willard tells me that a small herd is usually one extended family group. Likely, the yearlings will continue to travel with their mama even once the fawn or fawns are born.

two whitetail does


This isn't the best photo--I have a hard time composing the shot when the subject is moving--but I am including it so you can see how large the mama's abdomen is. I have no way of knowing her "due date" but judging from this picture and her recent absence from my yard, I am guessing she's already delivered.

Come back and visit--I hope to have some photos of the young one(s) soon.

Comments

Hi Adrienne, We have deer here also--and use Liquid Fence to keep them from eating our flowers/plants. If you want to see some of my deer photots/posts, look under DEER on my labels on the sidebar.

Have a great day. GORGEOUS pictures of your deer.
Hugs,
Betsy
Adrienne Zwart said…
Thanks, Betsy. They do graze occasionally, but since I really did plan this flower garden to be deer resistant, I have minimal damage. I use an organic repellent whenever we plant new trees. It works great, but it smells terrible--like rotten garlic!
These photos are all so beautiful Adrienne! It's so neat that you have gotten to know "your" deer and made your yard friendly to them.
Unknown said…
They are really beautiful! I laughed about how they eat the Hosta that they aren't supposed to like : ).

I can't wait to see the new fawn! Very exciting stuff!
SaraG said…
Beautiful photo's. Can't wait to see if you get some baby pictures this year!!
Adrienne: Beautiful colors on the deer with their new coats, wonderful captures.
DeniseinVA said…
Wonderful images, and those deer are adorable. We get them in our neighborhood but I don't see them too often. This kind of sighting on a regular basis would be thrilling.
Willard said…
Thanks for mentioning me and linking to the blog.

I really enjoyed your post and the other posts too. It was especially interesting reading about the Blue Jay's behavior. I didn't know they did that.

I predict that your doe will have twins by the size of her abdomen.

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