Pregnant Doe

Although “homebrewed” camera traps built using digital point-and-shoot cameras and ready-made control boards have long been my preference I recently purchased a commercial unit because I’d seen some outstanding videos from cameras produced by one of the manufacturers.

Since we have a number of white-tailed deer frequenting the hill above the house, I put the commercial unit there to get a sampling of videos – both full color videos during the day and infrared videos at night. 

During May the deer are shedding their winter coats, bucks are beginning to grow antlers and the does are exhibiting the roundness of pregnancy. The pregnant doe is just starting to shed, her buck fawn from last year looks pretty scruffy, even malnourished, as he’s in the midst of shedding with tufts of old hair sticking out all over; new antlers, his first, are growing from the pedicles on his head.

Individual White-tailed deer shed in their own time at their own pace. However, pregnant does frequently replace their winter coat with their summer coat later than other deer as they devote resources to their developing fawn(s). The video was taken in mid-May, two to three weeks before most of the does in this area usually give birth.