About a half hour of light left, I was set up on a thicket opening into oak trees. I hear something coming at a dead run. A doe fawn scampers out, stops looks around, makes a big circle then darts back in the thicket around 50 yards further down. Hot on her heals comes a....button buck. He didn't exit the thicket but stopped just inside. He must have spotted me because stomped a few times, blew, and then went back where he came from. I had a hard time getting a good glass on him but there appeared to be knobs on his head.

So was this a doe fawn in heat? She was not a particularly large fawn. But he was clearly dogging her and she was clearly trying to get away. I have seen a mature buck chasing a fawn in November before, who was in heat by the way she was acting (it was in KY and I had filled by buck tag, so I shot that doe finding out she was a fawn).

Tough one to say. I have seen fawns in the fall and late winter chasing each other in a playing manner.

Or yes, does usually reach maturity by 1 1/2 years old and come in estrus. I believe there have been a few rare cases where a fawn 5-6 months have come in heat but test or research stated that food and maturity play a huge part of it.

Earl

Yeah the more I think about it, I think he was just messing with her. If she was in heat, I don't think he would have spotted me....would have been too distracted.

The literature I've read says that the magic weight is 75 #'s.....when a doe fawn hits that weight, she will go into heat in Dec or Jan, and about 25% of doe fawns are bred...obviously more in agricultural areas and less if any in the mountains etc.

I don't think many doe fawns in my area, if any, hit 75# by 8-9 months. However, over the last 10-15 years I've killed ball park 15 does off my place that were 1.5 years old, and 3 of them had been bred as fawns, as evidenced by lactationa and or maturity of the nipples. An unbred doe will have nipples like a buck. A doe that's been prego will have the nanny nipples, even if they lose the fawn and stop lactating.