Reading White-tailed Deer Signs
By T.R. Michels
White-tailed
deer leave several different signs as evidence of where they have
been. Both bucks and does leave behind trails, tracks droppings
and beds. Bucks also leave behind rubs and scrapes as they prepare
for the breeding season or "rut" during the fall. Knowing how to
read these signs can help you to know when and where to find
white-tailed deer throughout the year.
Trails
Whitetail deer
use trails to get the from one "high use" area to another, often
from daytime bedding areas to food sources and back again. Deer
prefer to travel through the areas of least resistance, so they
expend the least amount of energy. This means they often travel on
old roads, on dry rather than wet ground, in light rather than
deep snow, on hard packed snow rather than soft snow, and at an
angle up and down hills rather than straight up and down. But,
this preference by deer to move through the easiest areas of
travel is overridden by the deer's need for security. Security to
a deer is being in a place where it cannot see, smell or hear a
predator or humans and human activity, which means the deer often
move at night.
Trails used at
night, when the deer feel secure under the cover of darkness, are
often located in open fields, on hilltops and in meadows. These
are areas the deer wouldn't use during the day because they can be
seen. Trails deer use during the day are usually located in woods,
brush, swamps and fields with tall vegetation, ravines, gullies or
low lying routes, where the deer aren't easily seen. Traveling in
low routes has other advantages. Winds are not as strong in
low-lying areas as they are in higher areas; which makes it easier
for the deer to hear in those areas.
You can tell
how often trails are used by the amount of vegetation or snow in
the trail, and the number of deer tracks on the trail. The less
vegetation there is, and the more tracks there are, the more the
trail is used. You can check trails after it has rained or snowed
to find out how many tracks there are, and to see if the trail has
been recently used. Kick dirt, leaves or snow over the old tracks,
and then check the trail later for new tracks to see if deer are
still using the trail, whether they are using it during the day or
nigh, and what time of the day they are using it. I also use a
Trail Timer to see how many deer use the trail, and what time of
day they use it. If you want to find out whether or not bucks or
does are using the trail, you can use a trail monitor with a
camera, like the Photo Hunter.
Tracks
Tracks on a
trail can tell you how often (and sometimes how many) deer use the
trail, but may not tell you how important the trail is.
Traditional trails, that are used year after year, may not be used
during certain times of the year. Heavily used trails leading to
ripening agricultural crops may only be used in the fall and
winter. Less frequently used trails may be used only at certain
times of the year, certain times of the day, or used as escape
routes. Game trails may also be used by only one doe group or by
only one buck. Very few tracks on a trail, in thick cover,
parallel to a more heavily used trail is probably used by a buck.
Look for other buck signs (tracks with drag marks, clumped
droppings) to tell you that a buck is using the trail. If you find
rubs and scrapes near the trail, you have found a buck rub route.
Deer tracks can
also help you determine the sex of the animal and its size. When
you look at tracks check the shape and size of the tracks, the
travel pattern, and how the tracks are placed in relation to each
other. Like some humans, some big deer have big hooves and some
have small hooves. Usually older, bigger deer have bigger hooves
than other deer in the area. This means that males often have the
biggest hooves. One study showed that the width of the back of a
mature buck's front hooves (when they are not spread apart) is
wider than 2.25 inches; but, size is not enough to say that the
tracks were left by a buck.
In deep snow
any deer may make drag marks. But if you see long marks with the
tracks, where the deer dragged its hooves in the dirt or light
snow, it is an indication that the tracks were probably made by a
buck. Mature bucks walk stiff-legged, and swing their hooves out
to the side, which causes them to drag their hooves. Because the
added weight of the swollen neck and rack of a buck are in front
of the hooves, they exert more pressure than the actual weight of
the front of the deer. This causes four different effects on the
front hooves 1. they hoof prints sink deep into the ground, 2. the
toes spread apart, 3. the toes point outward, 4. the hooves drag.
There are
several other factors to consider when you are looking at tracks:
1. Because bucks make scrapes, especially dominant bucks, they
round off the tips of their front hooves. Hoof prints that appear
rounded on the tips are usually made by a scraping buck, which
often means a breeding buck. This doesn't mean it is a trophy
buck; a small racked buck may be the dominant buck in the area. 2.
Bucks generally travel in a straight, purposeful line. 3. Bucks
often step directly in or short of the prints of the front hoof
with the hind hoof. 4. Because does have a wider pelvis for
fawning, their hind hooves often land outside and ahead of the
front tracks.
Droppings
When they are
combined with other sign, deer droppings, or scat, can help you
identify the areas deer use most frequently, like bedding areas,
food sources and the trails that lead to and from them. You may be
able to determine size and sometimes the sex of the deer by the
size and shape of the droppings. You may also be able to tell how
recently the area was used. The most noticeable clue about
droppings is their freshness, size and consistency. Shiny or moist
droppings are fresher than dull, dry ones. Shiny droppings often
indicate recent use of the area, usually within the last twelve
hours. If the droppings are still warm, they were probably left
within the last fifteen minutes. Droppings of hard pellets usually
mean the deer were eating dry foods; twigs, dry grass, dry leaves
and grain. Soft droppings in clumps usually mean the deer were
eating moist food; green grass, leaves and agricultural crops.
The size of the
droppings may tell you the size of the animal. For whitetails in
the northern States, droppings less than 1/2 inch long are usually
those of does and fawns; droppings larger than 3/4 of an inch are
those of a buck. Bucks also leave clumps of large droppings in
cylindrical shapes; the larger the diameter of the clump, the
larger the deer. These clumps can often be found in or near
scrapes, along rubs routes, and in buck bedding areas. To find out
how long the pellets are I use my little finger. I know that the
last joint of my finger is about an inch long, my fingernail is
1/2 inch. The entire length of my little finger is three inches,
and I use it to determine the size of tracks. If you compare the
size of the droppings, tracks and beds to your finger, hand and
arm, you have a better idea of the size of the animals in the
area.
Beds
Deer beds look
like large ovals where the dirt, grass, leaves or snow have been
pressed down. The size and location of the bed can tell you the
beds were used by bucks, does or fawns. The beds of northern
whitetail bucks are usually longer than 45 inches. Very large
bucks may have beds up to 50 inches. Doe beds are about 40 inches,
fawn beds 36 inches or less.
Deer often use
the same general areas to bed down in on a semi-regular basis.
Bedding areas are often located on benches on the downwind side of
hills, so the deer can smell approaching danger. Daytime bedding
sites are generally in heavy cover; nighttime bedding sites may be
in the open. Because does have their fawns with them, they require
larger bedding areas than single bucks. Does often use the same
general bedding area, but different sites. Numerous beds of
different sizes and ages indicate frequent use by does and fawns.
Splattered urine near the back of the bed indicates a doe
bedding-site. Bucks often choose the densest or most remote areas,
and use the same general sites. Single large beds in heavy cover
indicate solitary bucks. A urine stream near the middle of the bed
indicates a buck. Beds with nearby clumped droppings or large
pellets, and rubs, indicate a buck bedding site.
The use of
bedding sites varies by the time of year, and the time of day.
When deer choose a bedding site they are concerned about security
first, and then comfort. In warm weather, daytime beds may be in
open cover with shade on high ground, often on north facing slopes
where cooling breezes blow. They may also be in low-lying areas
that remain cool. During cold weather daytime beds may be found on
south facing slopes, where the animals take advantage of heat from
the sun when it is out. On windy days in cold weather, daytime
beds may be in dense cover, low-lying areas, or on the downwind
side of hills and slopes, where the deer can get out of the cold
wind.
Nighttime
bedding sites are not used as regularly as daytime bedding sites,
because the deer are less concerned about security, and more
concerned about food and comfort. Deer often lay down near
nighttime food sources. In warm weather nighttime beds are often
found in open areas on hills, where breezes allow the deer to
remain cool and smell approaching danger. In cold weather night
beds are often found in cover on the downwind side of hills, where
the wind isn't so strong.
Rubs
Bucks begin to
rub their antlers on trees in the fall as they prepare for the
rut. Rubbing may help remove the velvet from a buck's antlers, and
strengthen its neck for any sparring matches and fights it may
have during the rut. The rub of a whitetail buck is both a visual
and scent signal, which tells other deer there is a dominant buck
in the areas, and allows them to tell which buck made the rub. A
rub is made when a buck rubs or thrashes trees and brush with it's
antlers and forehead for about fifteen seconds, breaking smaller
trees and brush or removing the bark from the tree, while leaving
scent from the buck's forehead on the rub. The buck may also lick
or chew the rub after it has rubbed the tree with its antlers,
leaving saliva and possibly scent from the glands on the inside
its nose on the rub.
Rub Routes
A series of
rubs along a lightly used buck trail is called a rub route, and it
shows you where a buck travels during the rut on a semi-regular
basis. A rub route can also show where the buck beds, feeds and
ends up at night in search of does. The rub route leads from the
bedroom (where the buck often rubs on trees less than two inches
in diameter) through several doe use areas, and then to a night
food source. If the buck travels through wooded areas at night, it
may rub more trees on the way back to the core the next morning.
But, if the buck travels mainly through open areas at night (which
is often the case) it won't leave many rubs behind.
The side of the
tree the rub is on usually tells you the direction from which the
buck came. When you are facing the rub, you are facing the same
direction the buck was when it made the rub. Several rubs on the
same side of trees, and tracks pointing in the same direction,
tell you which way the buck was traveling. A buck may have several
rub routes leading to different food sources and doe areas.
Some people
believe only big bucks rub on big trees. The problem is that many
hunters think this means a buck with large antlers. I believe that
rubs on big trees are made by bucks with big racks. However, I
have watched large antlered bucks rubs trees from one inch to six
inches in diameter. I have also watched a small antlered buck rub
a 9-inch tree. Most 3.5 year old bucks, with an eight-point rack,
scoring in the 100 point range, are able to rub five to six inch
diameter trees.
Scrapes
Bucks also make
scrapes during the rut. A scrape is a combination sight and scent
signal left for does; to help identify the social status, health,
and the individual buck making the scrape. A scrape is probably
also a signal to other bucks that there is a dominant buck nearby.
A scrape is made when a buck rubs a low hanging branch with it's
antlers and forehead, and then licks and chews the branch.. The
buck then paws the ground several times with both hooves and
squats and urinates over its tarsal gland and into the scrape. A
friend of mine who is a wildlife photographer says that bucks in
velvet will rub and lick an overhanging branch, but do not usually
paw the scrape until after they shed the velvet from their
antlers.
Some deer
experts claim there are three different types of scrapes. Some
scrapes are called boundary scrapes because they appear along the
boundaries of a buck's home range, or between two different types
of habitat. They are often located along trails, creeks, fences,
old roads and field edges. Because these scrapes are often found
in open areas they are often made at night.
Secondary
scrapes are generally found in wooded areas, along trails, and in
natural funnels between core and feeding areas. They are called
secondary scrapes because they are not frequently used during the
weeks just before breeding occurs. Most scrapes start out as
secondary scrapes. A scrape becomes a primary scrape when it is
frequently used during the two to three weeks before peak
breeding. Primary scrapes are often used by numerous bucks, and
are usually found on wooded trails near food sources and doe
bedding areas. They are often used year after year because they
are in cover where the deer feel secure during the day.
If you are
interested in more deer hunting tips, or more deer biology and
behavior, click on Trinity Mountain Outdoors Magazine and
T.R.'s Hunting Tips at
www.TRMichels.com. If you have questions about deer, elk,
turkey or waterfowl log on to the T.R.'s Tips message
board. To find out when the rut starts, peaks and ends in your
area click on Whitetail Rut Dates Chart.
This article is
an excerpt from the Whitetail Addict's Manual ($19.95 + $5.00
S&H), by T.R. Michels, available in the Trinity Mountain
Outdoor Products catalog.
T.R. Michels is
a nationally recognized game researcher/wildlife behaviorist,
outdoor writer and speaker. He is the author of the Whitetail,
Elk, Duck & Goose, and Turkey Addict's Manuals. His
latest products are Hunting the Whitetail Rut Phases, the
Complete Whitetail Addict's Manual, the 2006 Revised
Edition of the Elk Addict's Manual; and the 2006 Revised
Edition of the Duck & Goose Addict's Manual. For a catalog
of books and other hunting products; or for information on a wide
variety of Natural History Eco-Tours, viewing and photographing
regional and national scenic areas, songbirds, big game animals,
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contact: T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors, E-mail:
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