Female white-tailed deer are pregnant for 6 and 1/2 months, approximately 200 days.
Most white-tailed deer mate in their second year, though some females occasionally mate as young as seven months. Mating occurs between October and December.
During the first pregnancy, a female will usually only have one baby (fawn), but after that she may give birth to 2 or 3.
Fawns are able to walk at birth. They are nursed several times a day until they are 8 weeks old, after which they begin to add vegetation to their diet. Fawns are weaned by 10 weeks old.
White-tailed females are very protective of their babies. When looking for food, females leave their offspring in a hiding place for about four hours at a time. While waiting for their mother to return, fawns lay flat on the ground with their necks outstretched, well camouflaged against the forest floor. Fawns begin to follow their mother on her foraging trips once they are about 4 weeks old and are fully ruminant at two months old. White-tailed deer fawns are nursed for 8 to 10 weeks before they are weaned. Young males leave their mother after one year but young females often stay with their mother for two years.
To learn more, visit University of Michigan - BioKIDS.
See general guidelines for raising whitetail and mule deer fawns at NADeFA.