Spotty offspring

Jul 24, 2026 By Ben Moyer 5 min read

Yes, crop damage from overabundant deer is a big problem for agriculture in this region. And everyone agrees that deer on the highway are a hazard to motorists’ safety (not enough of a concern, though, to curb speed). Less obvious but serious for the future is the damage too many deer wreak on forest ecology. Browsing by abundant deer inhibits the regeneration of desirable native trees, and favors the spread of ecologically harmful invasive plants, because deer won’t eat them.

Still, despite those liabilities posed by deer numbers out of balance with the landscape, a fawn whitetail, with white spots and bright eyes, brings a smile to almost any face outdoors.

This is the season for seeing fawns. The peak time for whitetail births in our region centers on the first week of June. So, most fawns we see now are about six to seven weeks old, well into what biologists call the “active phase” of fawn development. During this phase, fawns are strong enough to flee predators and begin exploring their mother’s home range, which is why we see them more frequently. They’re also spending more time now with their mothers and siblings than in the earlier “flush phase” (under 30 days).

That last fact may seem surprising, but it’s part of a survival strategy that helped sustain deer populations for tens of thousands of years when they co-existed with large predators like wolves and mountain lions. When fawns are very young, they remain mostly inactive and alone, bedded in one place where their dappled camouflage of white spots conceals them from easy detection. To avoid leading predators toward her young, the doe visits the bedding site of a concealed fawn only a few times each day, at roughly 6-hour intervals, and only long enough to allow the fawn a brief meal of mother’s milk.

If a predator does approach during this time, the fawn’s only defense is to lie motionless. But if the predator gets too close, the fawn will “flush” and run to a new spot and hide again. That tactic is not often successful against a hungry wolf or lion. Motionless concealment is a fawn’s best bet.

In today’s woodlands around here, the lions and wolves are gone but we now have coyotes, which have proven to be eager predators of fawns if they can find them. Black bears also prey on fawns they happen across.

Romanticized cartoons and movies that depict a fawn’s father, the whitetail buck, fighting off predators and protecting his family are all fantasy. In nature, after fertilizing the doe the previous November, the male plays no role in his offspring’s upbringing.

Fawns weigh 4-9 pounds at birth and can walk within one hour. They begin nibbling soft vegetation within three weeks, but the doe continues nursing them for five to six months, even though they are nutritionally independent of their mother by four months of age.

Healthy adult (2.5 years old) whitetail does in our region generally have two fawns each spring or early summer, sometimes three. When those fawns are still very young, the doe leads each to a different location for concealment — never together. By spreading her fawns among different places, the doe ensures that even if a coyote or bear finds one, the others can still survive.

It’s important to know about this survival strategy at work in the early lives of deer. Often, hikers, picnickers, or campers “find” a lone fawn curled up and hiding, then assume the fawn is orphaned because no mother is obvious nearby. It is always best to leave the fawn where it is, because most likely the doe is somewhere near but out of sight, waiting for people and their pets to leave the area, so she can retrieve the fawn, allow it to feed, and move it to a new place of concealment.

“Mid-to-late spring and early summer are popular times for humans to encounter newborn and young deer on the landscapes,” said Pennsylvania Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management Director Matthew Schnupp. “Whether enjoying their backyards or recreating in the woods, the best thing people can do when encountering any wildlife is to simply let them be.”

It’s illegal in Pennsylvania to possess deer or other wildlife, and violations are subject to a fine of $1,500. Game Commission officers cannot permit private citizens to keep wildlife they have taken into captivity.

Male and female whitetail fawns are born in nearly equal proportions, though slightly more males are born on a population scale. This slight bias toward males compensates for higher male mortality later in life, as males tend to travel farther, encounter more predators, and suffer injuries in fights and accidents.

Whitetail fawns are a pleasure to see and observe from a respectable distance. By late-fall they’ll be hard to tell from mature deer, except by slightly smaller size.

Ben Moyer is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America