I woke up this morning to these two breakfast diners, a doe and her “button buck” fawn.
They have been eating acorns that have been blown onto the bank. Acorns are vital for white-tailed deer in this area. They are about the only food that can give them the right amount of fat and protein to make through the winter.
If you look closely, you can see the buttons just above his eyes.
The buttons are the first set of antlers that a buck will have. These will be shed in mid-winter, and next year, he will likely grow what is called a spike rack.
If he were a fallow, we’d call him a prickett at that stage, but the correct term for a white-tailed deer with small antler without any tines is a “spike buck.”
Natural History 
Here in NH, I have noticed an abundance of acorns. Walking in the woods, it’s often like walking on marbles:-) I live on a big a few hundred acres and deer and moose are plentiful.
We’re having an unbelievable mast year too.
The tails look unusually dark, rather like a black-tailed deer. Is this common?
Yep.