The roadsides are probably reminding you that we are entering the breeding season of the white-tailed deer (whitetail). More and more deer are being hit by vehicles as bucks are prowling and searching for females.

All summer long, the male deer fed in small groups, independent of the does who were nursing and trying to protect the fawns from predators.

As September wanes and October rolls in, the buck start making scrapes and also strengthening their necks as they duel with small trees and saplings.

Hunters refer to the scarred trees as “buck rubs.” I noticed some buck rubs about a week ago. Generally, a larger, mature buck with larger antlers picks trees maybe 3 or more inches in diameter.

Younger bucks, sporting their first small antlers, usually “battle” smaller saplings. Many people thought that buck rubs were made when the bucks tried to shed their velvet.

A female deer (doe) generally begins estrus in late October or the first week or so of November. Bucks will widen their home range and wander trying to detect the scent of a doe ready to breed.

Sometimes two different bucks will find themselves searching for the same doe and fights can ensue. Usually there is a “kind of stare down” where body language and the size of the deer and antlers may intimidate a challenger. So, fights are not inevitable.

In nature, it is survival of the fittest. Well fortunately the stronger male breeds and passes on better genes.

After pursuing a doe and mating, the dominant buck will use his excellent scent of smell and try to seek another or more doe.

Two things of note: a doe is only in estrus 24 to 36 hours and if mating doesn’t occur, she will be “in heat” again in 21 to 30 days. Second, after mating, the doe may still be in estrus and a second male buck may breed with her. Studies have shown that sometimes the twin fawns born are from different male deer. A deer’s gestation period is 201 days therefore generally with the peak breeding season from Nov. 1 to Nov. 10, most fawns are born in late May or early June. However, if the doe wasn’t bred until early December, the fawn(s) may not be born until July. This summer, I saw a pair of fawns in July, appearing to be about a month old and then behind them, a doe fed near me with a much smaller fawn.

It looked like it was less than a week old. That doe was bred in her second estrus. The other possible scenario is that some fawns born in May are mature enough to breed in fall of the year they were born, but probably not until December, and those young females, almost without exception, have single fawns in July.

I thought I would relay some information on other gestation times for some of our common mammals.

Chipmunk, 31 days; Meadow vole, 21 days; red fox, about 60 days; opossum, 12 days. (It is our only marsupial and the 12-day old embryos climb from the birth canal into the pouch and remain there to nurse, attached to one of her teats) Black bears and many of the mustelids (mink, etc.) are a different story. More on them later.

Again, a reminder, be cautious driving the next few weeks during the “rut.”

Test Your Outdoor knowledge: As more and more songbirds begin using your feeders, which raptor species will most likely try to prey on them?

A. Cooper’s hawk

B. Red-tailed hawk

C. sharp-shinned hawk

D. broad-winged hawk

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Between 6,000 and 7,000 deer/vehicle collisions are reported each year in Pennsylvania. (insurance companies believe, however, that only 40% of those collisions are reported.)

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com