In some circles, you will still hear people talk about the old barren doe that lives in a particular part of the ranch. This line of thinking blames poor fawn production on the idea that many older does do not get pregnant. In reality, if the doe isn’t bred during the first estrous period, she will be receptive again 28 days later. This explains the high breeding success in white-tailed deer, even when bucks are scarce. It was recorded in one Texas study, that on average, 92 of every 100 does sampled were pregnant.

White-tailed deer are known for producing twins. In the previously mentioned study, over half of the does examined had twins. Triplets, however, were not common, and the occurrence of triplets was less than two percent. Quadruplets didn’t show up at all in the study. There were more male fetuses than female fetuses. Males represented 56 percent of the unborn fawns over the three years of the study.

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It was once thought that large, mature bucks dominated the breeding in deer herds. The premise was that the largest individuals would successfully defended all receptive does (does that are in estrous) from other bucks in the area. Of course, genetic testing came along and that allowed researchers to identify what exactly is happening out there in the woods. During the breeding season whitetail bucks search for individually receptive does. And understand this, it is not uncommon for a buck to court a doe for up to a day prior to her being receptive and then breed her repeatedly over the 24 to 36 hours (while she is in estrous).

The buck then searches for another doe and repeats the process. Therefore, bucks that successfully breed may spend as much as 24 to 48 hours with a single doe before looking for another. Due to the time spent with an individual doe, and because the most does in a balanced population are bred over a relatively short time frame, a single buck just can not monopolize the breeding.

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