35 commonly unknown whitetail facts

Stinger-Hunter · September 16, 2005

Here are some facts about whitetails intended to teach or remind us of the greatest animal in North America.

1. A mature whitetail buck makes an average of 225 antler rubs on saplings every fall.

2. Fawns are born completely odorless, which for the first month of life is their major defense against pedation.

3. Deer are ruminants, possessing four-chambered stomachs. This enables them to feed without much chewing so that they can quickly return to the safety of heavy-cover bedding areas. Then, the animals can regurgitate the food for futher mastication.

4. Using radio-telemetry equipment, biologists have determined that east of the Mississippi, a whitetail buck's home range is 2.5 square miles and oval shaped. West of the Mississippi, in those regions where there are wide expanses of open ground separating the cover configurations, home ranges may be as large as 7 square miles.

5. In a nationwide study of whitetail stomach contents, it was determined that the animals regularly feed upon 614 different varieties of plants.

6. Not only is venison delicious, but nutritionists have found that it's higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol than any domestic meats.

7. The hollow hairs comprising a deer's winter coat are equal in their insulating qualities to the most sophisticated high-tech fibers mankind has ever developed.

8. Bucks restrict their movements in spring and early summer because their rapidly growing antlers are rubbery, tender, and very susceptible to damage.

9. Just because you find occasional piles of deer pellets when you're scouting doesn't mean there are plenty of deer in your area. Scientist tell us that a whitetail defecates an average of 13 times every 24 hours.

10. The "Minnesota Giant" taken by James Rath in 1977 is one of the country's rarest trophy whitetails because it made the Boone & Crocket record book in both the typical and nontypical categories, scoring 199 6/8 and 231 2/8, respectively.

11. There are more than 30 known subspecies of whitetails in North and Central America, all of which are believed to have evolved from the "type" species. This primary strain is the Virginia whitetail (Odocoileus virginianus).

12. No one knows why, but studies have shown that deer respond most frequently to grunt calls and antler rattling when doing so means that they must travel uphill or at least remain on level ground. They seldom respond if it'll require downhill travel.

13. Ninety percent of all antler rubs are made on aromatic or resinous tree species, such as cedar, pine, spruce, shining sumac, cherry, dogwood, or sassafras. The reason is that the oily cambiums of the species will retain the buck's forehead-gland scent for longer periods of time, even during inclement weather.

14. Research by Georgia deer biologist Larry Marchington has revealed that during a given year, a buck will make from 69-538 antler rubs on trees, with a mature buck averaging 300.

15. Deer possess a supranuclei ganglion- also known as an internal sleep clock-in their brains. The mechanism allows them to fall into a restful sleep just as humans can. But unlike humans, deer can spring into total alertness in only a third of a second.

16. The size of a scrape is a reliable indicator of the size and age of the buck that created it. Mature bucks paw scrapes that are minimally 18 inches in diameter, and sometimes up to 4 feet.

17. Deer are excellent swimmers and will not hesitate to cross rivers or lakes more than you'd hesitate to cross a street.

18. The greatest deer-research breakthrough in the past 25 yeards may be the finding that deer are not limited to black-and-white vision but can see a wide range of colors, including ultraviolet light, which is invisible to humans.

19. By the conclusion of the rut, an average mature buck will have lost as much as 25 percent of his body weight.

20. Radio-tracking studies have shown that the largest bucks make the largest antler rubs on trees, and they begin engaging in their rubbing behavior a full month before younger bucks do. Tip: Find the big, early rubs and you'll have found your trophy.

21. The widest record-book rack ever taken is known as "Big Red." Taken in Kentucky in 1982 by Denis Nolen, the rack scores only 172 4/8 but has an incredible 37 1/2 inch outside spread

22. Hunters who are skeptical about the effectiveness of deer calls should consider that biologists using sophisticated audio recording equipment have identified 15 distinct vocalizations that whitetails make to communicate with each other.

23. For generations, hunters believed cold air temperatures triggered the rut. We now know it's shorter day length and reduced amounts of sunlight entering the eye that cause changes in a deer's endocrine system, spurring the onset of breeding.

24. Many hunters have long wondered why they've never found shed antler velvets in the woodlands. The reason is that bucks eat most of it; what remains on the ground quickly disintegates. Biologists studying penned deer commonly observe this behavior but have no explanation for it.

25. The largest body weight ever achieved by a whitetail is 511 pounds, by a Minnesota deer taken in 1976. This is followed by deer of 491 pounds and 481 pounds from Wisconsin 1980.

26. Laboratory studies of deer suggest their sense of smell is at least 10 times more acute than that of a human, and that they are able to separate and analyze seven different odors simultaneously.

27. When looking at distant objects, the human eye uses binocular vision while the whitetail eye uses wide-angle vision. This is why we are less adept at spotting movement around the periphery of our visual scope than deer are.

28. When running, does are far more likely than bucks to "flag" with their tails. This behavior enables the doe's offspring to follow their mothers in dim light or when the mother is fleeing through cover.

29. In bitter-cold weather, deer feed heavily upon staghorn sumac. They instinctively know that this plant is higher in fat than any other native food and thus helps generate body heat.

30. Research has revealed tha the width of a deer track-not its length - is the most reliable indicator of the animal's age. The reason is that because a deer's body weight steadily increases with age, the animal requires a progressively wider base platform to support that weight.

31. A doe is able to sniff a scrape, chemically analyze the tarsal scent left there by the buck that made it, and then evaluate the health and virility of the animal to determine if he would be a worthy sire.

32. A lone bed measuring 45-50 inches in length is most likely that of a big buck. If the bed you find barely reaches 45 inches and is accompanied by one or two smaller ones, it's undoubtedly that of a doe with offspring.

33. Immature bucks commonly check their scrapes by walking right up to them. Mature bucks normally scent-check their scrapes from 30-50 yards downwind while remaining in thick cover.

34. When a doe enters estrus just prior to breeding, she chases away her buck and doe yearling fawns. After breeding, any doe fawns are permitted to rejoin her, but the young buck is now on his own, searching for his own home range elsewhere. This is nature's way of preventing inbreeding among family members the following fall.

35. Unknowledgeable hunters often mistakenly refer to deer antlers as "horns." Horns remain with an animal for its entire life, as in the case of the pronghorn antelope. Antlers are shed every year.

The following facts were gathered from Whitetail Hunting - tactics of the pros edited by Lamar Underwood, The Lyons Press, 2001

Smitteken · September 16, 2005