Concern with year-round feeding

I remember when a fellow hunter reported he had seen a coyote sit and watch a feeder as if it was waiting to see what might come to it.

I have to wonder if running a feeder when fawns first begin tagging along with their mother doesn't make it easier for coyotes and other predators to locate and chase them down. If so, it would seem a good move to discontinue feeding until later in the summer when fawns are better able to flee and avoid predators.

valid point ... I had a big bobcat that did just what you described over a small ~15 acre food plot that I had 3 feeders.

You mean like this... Don't know what happened next as it is on 7 minute delay. Bobby hangs around there every once and a while.

That looks like a fawn that's big enough to have a chance at getting away. My concern is with smaller fawns that have just started to tag along with their mother and will be easy picking for several weeks.

Coyotes and other predators get a lot of fawns without having to patrol deer feeders. I'm thinking feeders just make it that much easier for them when does bring their fawns with them.

Not worried at all

You could be on to something....but I'm still going to feed year round. Just me.

We don't get fawns on cam ever so they are smart enough to not hang at the feeder I guess. Really don't have deer at feeders in spring and summer. Really not worried at all.

If it was a real issue, wouldn't there have been a study done on it by now?

Many studies have found that coyotes are bad on fawns, with one such study finding that in areas with healthy coyote populations, more than 80% of fawn mortality is attributable to them.

So if it's common to see predators around feeders, and coyotes take more fawns than any other predator, can we assume they frequent them because they've learned they are good places to catch fawns?

Something else to consider. If feeders do attract predators during the fawning season, it would seem discontinuing their use for a month or two could actually make your property more attractive for deer than your neighbor who keeps feeders going year round. After all, we know that safe cover is one of the three basic elements of good deer habitat, the others being food and water. That brings to mind how watering holes are probably good, opportunistic spots for predators as well.

Granted, there's no stopping coyotes from taking fawns. However, are there things we can do, short of hot lead, to make it harder on them and easier on fawns?

I need some extra money. I think I am going to put in for some Guv. money to do a survey on Fawn survival at feeders. Maybe they will add on a little extra money if I test different feeder types and different feeds. Thanks, I have been looking for a way to make some extra beer money.

You're welcome.

You're on to something there. Get a government grant to do the study. Get feeder manufactures to donate equipment for the study. Get camera manufactures to donate cameras for the study. Get feed companies to donate feed for the study. Get student volunteers to set up feeders and keep them filled. Sit back and laugh, laugh, laugh.

I've got too many mouths to feed already.

We do not start feeding until about mid September and stop when the feeders run out in February. Our neighbors to the east and south of us feed year around they also have hog problems to deal with. We rarely see any hogs on our place. The place to the north of us is also mostly pasture and only feeds during deer season. Neither of us have hogs to deal with, even though we have the water, natural food and the cover. We start the feeders, and the deer show up the that day. Both of us tried to feed all year, all we got out of it was hogs and more expense, if I want to hog hunt, I have other options.

By the time a fawn is weaned off of mama it should be able to flee pretty well.
Feeding year round gives does a better chance of birthing stronger fawns and being able to have more milk for them.

Some may have mistaken the focus of my question. The intent wasn't to question complete, year round feeding but only if there could be benefits in not feeding during the late Spring and early Summer months (May-June) when fawns are most vulnerable to predators. With natural browse now being widely available and feeders turned off, does and their fawns would revert to a more scattered behavior, making it at least somewhat harder for predators to run across them. With feeders in place, predators need only set their daily behavior clocks, just as deer do, and be there to eat at roughly the same time every day. Anyone who has ever hog hunted a feeder during the off season knows full well how unpressured deer show up like clockwork.

Have been advised by my area biologist in Dickens county that fawn mortality is 50% from yotes. I run 2 feeders year round for supplement and hog hunting. I never see a young fawn at the feeders. At about age 6 plus months there at feeders

Agree on the hogs, but we still feed year round. I hardly ever see any small fawns on camera at feeders. I think Momma knows not to bring them around until they can handle themselves. We dont have many coyotes though, so I guess it wouldn't matter if they did bring them to feeders. Never been a problem.

I built a hanging pipe feeder and hung it from a tree a couple of weeks ago. Cam showed nothing but coons cleaning it out. I didn't think they could get to it but they are good at making a living. On the plus side, I got a pic of the biggest coyote I've ever seen.

I won't criticize anyone but I feed year around. I put out a lot of corn..this helps as most hunters quite feeding in February. Food is hard to come by after the freezes so the deer come to my pen. I have as many as twenty bucks in a 100ft by 200ft. pen with three feeders. No hogs, no cows, no coyotes, and not many bobcats. If I do have a cat mostly they are after the birds...mostly doves and mockingbirds. The only draw back is usually all bucks and no does so I have to feed does outside the pen which will attract hogs so I use corn very sparingly. When I get too many hogs I don't feed for a while and they will leave. Then I start back throwing about 7 lb.s of corn and work from this amount. Good Luck

I will address the issue of possibly loosing fawns due to feeding year around. During fawning season the does will go to a "fawning ground" that they will use each year. These fawning areas will usually be family does and yearlings...at my place there is usually three or four does together. I have a young heard due to over harvesting around my area which usually means only a couple of fawns in group. Yes I see coyotes in my pictures but by counting the fawns I don't see many losses to predators. However, if a fawn is born to a yearling it generally can't make it just for the simple fact the mother is young and may not be able to protect the baby. Almost all the fawns I get on camera survive. However, I don't have but a 65% fawn crop. This is because of a young doe heard. When does get older, say about three and older they will begin to have twins and triplets. This is when you have to be careful of over population ...getting over a 100% fawn numbers. Thus having to trim down the doe numbers. It's like you have to put on the gas when you have high doe numbers and off the gas when ya have low numbers. Now, how do ya know when ya have low numbers? You count them using trail cameras using a viable process. I use my own process as I have been counting deer for ten years now and have picked up knowledge each year and still learning. To make sure, sometimes I have counted deer on my place as many as three times. You will be surprised how accurate counting deer by cameras will show. Bottom line is feed year around and having a pen helps and you will be glad you did. Your choice of bucks will increase...year after year!

Thanks for the response.

So then, your observations have led you to the conclusion that fawns will usually remain in the area where they were born until they have at least some ability to elude predators, correct? If so, then placing feeders in areas away from fawning areas would seem to be a good move. But then, does may be smart enough to choose fawning areas away from feeders.

I never heard of a fawning area.

I take these to be tall and thick grassy areas where does can better hide a fawn. Some have even suggested not mowing during the fawning season to give does more places to hide their fawns.

Great point. Not sure about our deer, but this is true when it comes to bobcats/coons on my place. The bobcats will hide in the treeline and snatch the coons off the feeder. A sight to see...

I would like to see that!

Im sure all properties and parts of the state and other states are different. Our propery doesn't have feeding areas and bedding areas and pinch points and fawning areas etc. It is an unchanging constant brush and grass for the whole property except senderos and what small areas we have cleared.

We have a sky high coyote/bobcat population, when the sun goes down they are howling all over, would think they were in your shirt pocket if you didn't know any better, constantly find fresh tracks and scat see them and on trail cameras. We also have a pretty strong fawn crop year in and year out even in drought years. We do feed free choice protein and corn year round.

You never heard of "fawning areas" because that is my name I gave to the process, sorry bout that. I also found fawns near the pen but I made no effort to find the fawning areas in and about the pen. I would expect that the fawning areas are close as I see the same fawns most of the time within a 100 yds. .It appears the same does has fawns the same place each year...most of the time there are 5 fawns in the area of my pen.
Now to address the issue that fawns will stay in the same place for a length of time to avoid predators. I can only say that the fawns will stay in the same area for a length of time...usually about a month...but why? I am not sure yet...maybe some day I will learn that. I spend thousands of hours studying the deer heard each year for the last ten years. Doing this you can't help learning some things...some will apply to your ranch possibly or maybe not. Please understand I am not sharing my information to show off ...just to share information with you. I have no reason to share with ya other than I think you would appreciate the information. Hearing some information needs some input to help to understand the things I have learned.

Exactly. We won't mow until summer. Leave tall grassy areas alone. Perfect fawning cover. Numerous watering areas help to keep predators guessing where the deer will be.

I think the fawning area term is a good one, because that describes the area around our house. Always fawns in the area in the spring. And I have a corn feeder in the same area, so I see Mom eating corn while the fawns are
50ish yards away. It’s quite a while till the fawns eat corn.

I don’t mow pastures around the house till the wildflowers seed out, so that fits well with the fawns having tall grass to hide in. And I’ll tell you that it does not take much grass to hide a fawn. The wife uses binocs to find their ears sticking up.

When it does come time to shred the yard pasture, I have to be real alert to not shred a fawn. Haven’t shredded one yet, but it has been close once or twice. Just missed one years ago that was in tall grass near a pond. The little fawn wobbled into the shallow water and went deep enough that only the ear tips, eyes, and nostrils were out of the water. If I hadn't seen it do that, I would not have believed it.

Had one fawn 30 feet from the front porch, in the clump of grass around a tree trunk. Never would have known it was there, but our big old Maine Coon tomcat stalked it while I was having coffee. He sneaked right up on it, sniffed its head and took a big paw and tapped the fawn on the top of the head a couple of times. That was too much for the fawn, which got up and wobbled off about 50 yards to another grass clump.

We love watching the fawns.

I've known bucks to bed near houses and thought it must be because they've learned the sounds of human activity are no threat to them but deter predators. I've seen them do the same near public roads. It would make sense that does with fawns might choose to bed near houses for the same reasons.

Always drove me nuts cutting hay in high school, they hide the fawns in the hay fields and it was inevitable running some through the cutter.

Great fawning covers solves lots of issues with predators. I am not concerned about the year feeding as much as am about limited water sources....like water troughs. Not all deer will go to a feeder but they will all go to water a couple of times per day. So do predators. So now I guess "they" would want you to shut off water during fawning season?

Having several that catch rainwater might make it harder for predators to cover all of them during the fawning season.

I have lived in the country my entire life. I have never seen an area where Does have fawns each year. They try to go off by themselves to fawn. This is mostly for the bonding period. An animal when it first gives birth needs it to be alone with the offspring to bond. The baby has no idea what is going on. It takes a week or two to for it to know its mother. During this time the mother stays with it quite a bit except when eating or drinking. After this time the fawn will start going with the doe. She may park it some place at times and leave it. After about 3 weeks the fawn will be with her most of the time. Coyotes and Bobcats are very smart. Smarter than deer. If they knew there were certain areas that were the so called"birthing area" where do you think they would be doing most of their hunting. Right, not a feed pen. The only thing that keeps coyotes and bobcats from eating deer is if there are plenty of mice, rats or rabbits.

I have purposely killed and left feral hogs in the woods with the thought it might give the coyotes something to eat when they might otherwise be searching for fawns.