My Dad has told us forever that deer always have twins - one male and one female. He heard this from a wildlife major while he was at a hunting ground. I've always taken this as fact.

However, while riding through the Texas Hill Country (if you've never seen our Hill Country area, you must at some point. Really is beautiful in areas - especially when the Bluebonnets are blooming) these past couple of weekends, we've noticed that there seem to be only one fawn with each doe. I don't know if the unusually warm weather this past winter is to blame or what.

Is the twins to each doe concept not true after all? I've done a bit of research the past few days on the subject, but I'm just not coming up with anything totally conclusive. From what I can tell, deer can have anywhere from 1 - 4 offspring at a time. But, I really don't have anything definite enough to settle it completely in my mind (and be able to tell everyone else that what we've always thought isn't true after all).

Do any of you have something more concrete?

Thanks!

Here is a bit of info:
Deer mate during the autumn, and the doe usually gives birth to one or two fawns in the spring. The gestation period ranges from 160 days among musk deer to about 10 months among roe deer.
This family consists of 17 genera and about 53 species. The largest N.American deer is the Moose. For more info you can go to http://www.pnx.com/daniel/derspe.htm

Linda1, I have been to several websites and they all say the same thing. Deer give birth to one or two offspring. There is no way that one offspring can be a twin. It just doesn't add up. And nowhere does it mention deer only give birth to twins. If they did I'm sure it would be mentioned. I think you can safely assume that the person who told your father that they ALWAYS give birth to twins was wrong. Not necessarily lying mind you. Just misinformed. Like jabberwocks bird story. I too heard that one as a kid.

[This message has been edited by spak (edited 07-08-2000).]

One to two is the norm, we recently had a unfortunate road kill up here, she had five unborns inside her.
I don't know whether or not they woulda made it if she had not been hit. I think there would have been a shortage of milk production by the mother, as well as a shortage of teats.

In my little stash of useless facts under deer, the first two address your issue but certainly don't clarify it completely!

FACTS ABOUT DEER

Mature does will regularly give birth to twins yearly.

Single and triplet fawns are not uncommon.

Two deer without predation can produce a herd of up to135 deer in 7 years.
Deer can live up to 18 years.
Food types include grasses, shrubs, leaves, needles and "mast" from oak, beech, and apple trees.
In areas of overpopulation, deer can cause an "over browsing" effect which destroys most plant species up to six feet destroying the forest renewal process. Gardens, plants and shrubs can also be destroyed.
Undernourished deer are smaller- weaker and prone to die from starvation. This is not good for the environment nor is it good stewardship of the animals.
Deer require 10-12 pounds of food each day for most of the year.
In late winter their diet is supplemented by their stored fat.
This is usually the time when overpopulated deer herds extend their range into back yards to consume your shrubs and plants! However, this can happen at any time of year!
When deer run out of stored fat and available browse they start to metabolize their bone marrow and starvation is eminent.
Deer are ruminants and have multi chambered stomachs similar to cows.
Deer establish a home range and will not leave it.
Deer are known to starve or drown rather than leave their home range. Example: The islands along Maine's coast and many coastal communities suffer this problem, right now!
DEER PROBLEMS

Deer, being adaptable, learn to live around humans and the "edges" we create.
Deer are crepuscular (feeding mostly at dawn and dust) and /or nocturnal, (feeding only at night) especially if pressured.
Farmers, orchardist, foresters and nurserymen suffer crop damage from deer.
Car collisions result in property loss, personal injury and occasional human fatalities, adding to our increased insurance and medical cost.
Deer are host to the tick that carries Lyme Disease.
Failure to manage the deer herd makes forest and land management nearly impossible.
Forests fail to regenerate when deer exceed 40 per square mile