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Whitetail Deer Behavior and Habits: In order to understand and humanly harvest our quarry it is in the hunter's best interest to spend some time learning this subject. The Whitetail Deer is physically well suited to not just survive but to thrive in the habitat in which it resides. This has been demonstrated by its phenomenal expansion in North America. Habits:Deer live in a matriarchal society. The bucks live separately from the does and their offspring except during the breeding season and part of the winter. Even when the bucks are with the herd, they do not take over the lead but are led by an old doe. Deer are creatures of habit. If unmolested, they follow the same routine, the same trails, day after day, shifting the pattern only because of weather conditions and the availability of food. Originally deer were more active during daylight hours. Pressure from hunters forced them to move under the protective cover of darkness. By preference deer start to feed about 4:30 each afternoon. If food is plentiful, they can fill their paunches in less than an hour. However, if food is plentiful the deer are more fussy and select only the choicest tidbits. They walk along slowly and nibble at this shoot or that herb, pausing here and there to taste a few leaves. Deer need 10 to 12 pounds of food per day to satisfy their needs. The list of foods they eat covers most types of vegetation. The diet changes with the season as well as the section of the country the deer inhabit. High on the list of deer food are red maple, white cedar, white acorns, apples, dogwood, sweetfern, oak, witchhazel, sumac, hemlock, willow, wintergreen, fir, arborvitae, snowberry, greenbriar, bearberry, oregon-grape and pine. Of the cultivated crops, corn, alfalfa, clover, cabbage, rape, soybeans, rye, lespedeza and trefoil are all eagerly sought and eaten. Within a couple of hours the deer has appeased its hunger; it then seeks out a place of safety to chew its cud. As darkness has usually fallen by this time, the deer frequently lie down in fields or brushland. About dawn they become active again and feed till about 6:30 or 7 a.m., when they retire for the day. Now they look for heavier cover and, if possible, take to the ridges. As the sun warms the earth, the thermals rise to the top of the ridges, carrying the scent of everything below up to the deer. Thus the deer are usually warned well in advance of an enemy's presence. When a deer is startled, it leaps from its bed and dashes off as if it had an appointment in the next county. Actually the deer only runs as far as the nearest cover, then stops and watches its back trail to see if it is being followed. If it is being followed, it attempts to circle around its pursuer and get back to its original location. If the deer is not pursued, it generally lies down again in the first patch of protective cover. In warm weather deer seek ponds and lakes, not only to drink but also to
feed upon aquatic vegetation. Wading in deep water also gives them protection
against stinging insects.
Scientists previously believed deer were color blind and saw everything in monochromatic shades of gray. Reasoning this is the reason hunters can wear bright, phosphorescent clothing without being noticed by deer. More recent research contends rather that they see in more of the ultraviolet light spectrum. Regardless, the deer's eyes are very sharp and quick to take in the slightest movement but will pass right over a stationary object. Many hunters, standing absolutely still, have had deer walk up to within a few feet and never see them. Their sense of taste is well developed because deer show decided preferences in the food they eat. Of course succulence may be a more deciding factor than taste. However, deer prefer to feed upon vegetation on previously fertilized ground because it contains some of the trace minerals that they desire and need. Communication: Deer possess quite a repertoire of sounds. A young fawn will bleat like a lamb, while an older deer will sound quite a bit like a hoarse, raspy sheep. They whistle and snort through their noses and communicate by stamping their feet, particularly when nervous. This stamping sets up a vibration felt by other deer quite a distance away and never fails to alert all the deer in the area. Like the pronghorn, the deer can signal danger by flashing the white hair on its rump. Their will be a page dedicated solely to communication and examples of some useful sounds that you can use in the field after the section on hunting techniques. Locomotion:Everyone has the impression that a deer is a swift animal. Actually its top speed is between 35 to 40 miles per hour, which means there are many animals that can run faster, but it is fast enough for the type of terrain it inhabits. The deer's ability to jump over high windfalls and fallen tree trunks while dashing off at this speed enables it to lose most of its pursuers. A deer can clear an 8-foot hurdle from a standing position. Although 15 feet is a good broad jump for a deer, some deer have been known to jump 29 feet. A deer customarily walks from place to place while feeding. The faster it moves, the more it is at a disadvantage in seeing an enemy before it is seen. When anxious to get to a spot more quickly, a deer trots, picking up the left front foot and the right hind foot at the same time. At full speed it bounds along with all the grace attributed to this species. When the deer is bounding the front and hind feet work in unison. The two front feet touch down and then the hind feet come down ahead of the front feet. As the front feet come down the body is bunched together, and when the deer pushes off with its hind feet the action is like the uncoiling of a flat spring. When a deer cannot outrun an enemy, it frequently takes to water to escape. Deer swim well and at a good pace. They have been clocked at speeds up to 13 miles per hour and have been seen five miles out from the nearest point of land. Many does often swim out to an island before giving birth so that the fawns have the protection of the water barrier. Deer are at a disadvantage on ice. Their hard hooves with receding centers
are insecure, and if they lose their footing the deer may become exhausted
and be unable to rise. When deer slip on ice they often dislocate their
legs.
Antlers grow at a rapid rate, and the buck is very careful of them. During this growth period the antlers are soft, tender and easily damaged, and the bucks live a retiring life. By September the antlers reach full size and the blood vessels dry up, split and start to peel off. To hasten the process the buck rubs his antlers against small, resilient saplings and brush. The buck shadowboxes at the same time, thrusting and turning his antlers at the bush as if he were fighting a rival. These mock battles also serve to strengthen the buck's neck, which has already begun to swell with increased blood engorgement. The testicles drop down and are easily visible. Sometimes the bucks paw shallow, circular depressions in the earth. These scrapes are usually under overhanging bushes that the bucks chew and hook with their antlers and revisit often. A buck in rut fears little, and this is the only time of the year that he may be dangerous to man. The doe's estrous period usually starts in November, though varying according to the section of the country.The level of intensity of the rut varys from different parts of the country.Fights between bucks and the seemingly relentless chasing of does may be fever pitched in some areas while almost non existant in others. The most common determining factor is buck to doe ratio. Each doe is in heat for about thirty hours. if she is not bred in that time she comes back in heat twenty-eight days later. Although all does are bred in their first or second heat period, occasionally some may be missed until their third or fourth. This explains why some fawns are born so late that they still have their spots during the hunting season. As the does start to come into their heat periods, the bucks track and follow them. Occasionally a doe accepts the favors of several bucks, but more often the bucks do not share the doe. A large buck has no trouble driving away a smaller rival, but the challenge of another large buck results in a fight. Deer do not meet with repeated head-on clashes but charge each other only once. The fight is then one of brute strength as each buck tries to shove the other backwards or to upset him. They are quick to take ad-vantage of the slightest opportunity to drive their antlers into their rival's body. Barring this chance, the fight goes on until one deer weakens, breaks off and runs away. This battling is beneficial to the species because it allows the superior buck to breed the doe and to pass on his desirable genes to the next generation. Occasionally when the bucks battle, the force of the impact causes their antlers to spring apart and to become enmeshed with each other. Thus securely locked, the two bucks are doomed to the slow death of starvation. Many skeletons bear mute testimony to the frequency of this occurrence. Often someone tries to save such bucks by sawing off one of the deer's antlers. in most instances his kindness is repaid by one of the bucks trying to gore him. As the breeding season wanes, the bucks lose their antlers and their belligerency and again become shy and furtive. Birth and Young: A deer's gestation period is 200 to 205 days, most of the fawns being born in the latter part of May or the first part of June. A doe giving birth for her first time will have a single fawn, thereafter she will have twins. in areas of good food, triplets are common as well as occasional quadruplets. There are even three records of quintuplets. At birth a baby doe weighs about 4 1/2 pounds while a buck weighs 5 1/2 pounds. At the time of birth, the doe may return to a preselected spot or she may give birth wherever she happens to be. The fawns are born over a period of time that may extend from ten minutes up to two hours. As soon as the fawn is born, the doe licks it dry with her tongue, Even before it can walk, the fawn in a matter of minutes seeks out the doe's udder and starts to nurse. The doe remains lying down so that the wobbly young can reach her nipples. By the time the fawns are twenty minutes old, they can walk slowly on very shaky legs. The doe, as soon as possible, will lead her fawns away from the place of birth where her body fluids have soaked into the earth and may attract predators. When a suitable place of concealment is reached, the doe leaves her fawns and moves off perhaps 100 yards away. The fawns in their spotted coats are almost impossible to see and are almost odorless. The doe comes back five to eight times a day to nurse the young and then leaves again. She always remains somewhere in the area where she can see if danger approaches or can hear the little ones if they call to her. After two to three weeks' time, the little ones are strong enough to follow the doe when she feeds. They then begin a process of self-weaning. Imitating their mother, the fawns taste various types of vegetation. As they increase this type of food intake, their demand for milk lessens and soon they are completely weaned. Before it is a week old, a fawn can easily outrun a man. The young does may stay with the female throughout the winter but the bucks may leave in the first fall. About 40 percent of the young does may breed in their first autumn so that they give birth when they are one year old. The sex composition of any deer herd is influenced strongly by the hunting procedures allowed. Slightly more bucks than does are born but it is close to a 50-50 ratio. However, many states do not allow does to be hunted, and the mature does soon exceed the number of bucks. Where well fed, deer will reproduce to the point where the newborn fawns comprise 30 to 40 percent of the total herd. Enemies: The elements also take their toll. High winds and biting cold force the deer to seek protected swamps and ravines. If the snow is deep, the deer tramp a network of trails throughout their yard leading to all available food. If the cold period is of an extended duration, or if the snow is deep, the deer soon consume their food supply and may be too weak to search further. At such times the deer yards become death traps and deer by the tens of thousands die of starvation each winter. Less frequently seen but also a threat to the deer's health are the various parasites. All creatures have some types of body lice-flies, mosquitoes and wood ticks feed upon all warm-blooded hosts. Botflies crawl up a deer's nostrils and lay their eggs on the deer's nasal membranes. When the larvae hatch out, they move further back into the nasal passageway. They stay there until the following spring when they drop out to complete their life cycle. Deer also have lungworms, footworms, liver flukes and tapeworms. Disease is the most insidious enemy. The whitetail deer has been known to have Bang's disease, fibrous tumors and the epizootic hemorrhagic disease. |
Breeding: 
The mountain
lion and the wolf were originally the deer's greatest control. Eliminating
these predators helped the deer to expand both its range and numbers. Today
the deer's chief enemy is man the hunter, although in many areas man as the
spoiler of habitat may soon be the prime foe. Men driving automobiles kill
numerous deer, too.In areas where they are found, the mountain lion, wolf and
bear still kill deer. Lynx, bobcats and coyotes are a lesser threat because
of their smaller size.