HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — It is a magical time of year in the South Texas wildlands, as fawns are beginning to appear throughout the ranch country, from rocky hills of the western Rio Grande Valley to grassy coastal plains.
Every year during the latter part of June and first weeks in July, whitetail deer give birth to their young. Mature does typically have twins and occasionally triplets.
Fawns are adorable creatures with big dark eyes and splendidly spotted coats. The coloration and pattern of their fur helps camouflage them from predators during the early days of their lives when they are most vulnerable spending a majority of time laying still trying not to be detected by a coyote or bobcat.
Fawns can typically stand within 30 minutes of birth and walk within a few hours. However, for the first couple of weeks they will spend 90 percent of their time hiding and sometimes all that is visible is a pair of ears barely protruding above the grass.
While a healthy fawn can run within a few days, it will be three weeks or more before it can evade predators.
Fawns nurse several times a day, and thanks to their mothers nutritious milk they mature rapidly. They start eating vegetation at some three weeks of age and begin joining her for extended browsing sessions.
Each fawn has a unique smell that the mother recognizes, and she will spend many hours grooming her offspring as they bond.
This pair of fawns is affectionately grooming one another, gently licking each other’s necks and ears. This behavior often lasts for several minutes as they too bond.
Whitetail deer are social animals, and once the fawns are capable of traveling they begin spending time with other deer learning the ways of the whitetail.
