The rain (on the windshield here) always brings out the deer. It softens the sounds of their steps and I imagine makes a steady diet of grass go down a little easier.
One neighbor’s unfenced pasture that we pass on the way in seems to be the principle gathering place throughout the valley; sometimes there are close to twenty. When it rains, they don’t wait for dark to start feeding there.
The puzzling thing is that we see so many young there this late in the year. Spotted fawns like the one here are common in the first part of the summer. This year, there are more fawns being born later, and an awful lot of twins. Don’t know why.
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I suspect that the late fawns this year are a result of last year’s drought. Does in poor condition come into estrus much later than does in good condition. I know that high rainfall the previous spring/summer usually results in early fawns the following year, so I’m guessing that the dry conditions last summer resulted in this year’s late fawns.
I thought I read something about nutrition and population pressure to explain late births. Google has the answer, but I’m too lazy to look at the moment.