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Whitetails adapt to surroundings

Published October 14. 2022 08:20PM

Our official state mammal is the white-tailed deer. Most, including me in this week’s column, will refer to them as whitetails.

Whitetails have been surprisingly adaptable. Near the beginning of the 1900s the deer were almost eradicated from our state.

When our ancestors arrived in “Penn’s Woods” Native Americans were utilizing the deer for food and hides, hardly denting the resource.

As we cleared the forests, and with no seasons, limits, and market hunting, our deer nearly disappeared. The deer herd was so small that beginning in 1906 and until about 1923, over 1,100 deer were stocked in Pennsylvania, transferred here from nearby states.

Today, the herd is managed well but problems do arise in our large housing developments where hunting isn’t allowed and deer numbers aren’t controlled. (I’ll address this concern in a future column)

White-tailed deer are browsers, not grazers. Their teeth arrangements are designed to snip off buds and twigs that are found throughout Pennsylvania’s forests. Yes, with our ancestors clearing of our forests and turning to agriculture, deer turned a cold shoulder to alfalfa, soybeans, or corn.

Remember though, their “gut” is adapted to a browse diet. Sometimes, helpful hunters or homeowners may begin feeding corn to deer in the harshest part of winter, and for deer not normally feeding on crops, this could actually kill them.

I planned this column to coincide with the beginning of the deer breeding season. In about 2-3 weeks many of the doe will be in estrous and the “rut” begins. I’ve already noticed that the bachelor groups of five or six bucks of summer have broken up and now the mature males are making scrapes (they dig a clear area with their forefeet and leave their scent.)

The scrapes are almost always under a branch that is 4 or 5 feet above the ground where they rub a branch against glands on their foreheads too. The scrapes serve two purposes; one is to notify other bucks of their presence, and secondly, to identify does (females) that check these scrapes.

Once the rut begins, a 3-, 4-, or 5-year-old buck will lose about 25 percent of his weight in those few weeks of constantly wandering in search of females to breed. I have witnessed a number of times bucks sizing each other up in intimidation action, and sometimes having very physical fights. (Sometimes large antlered bucks get their antlers interlocked and both can die from exhaustion from the entangled antlers.)

Be particularly alert driving the next four or five weeks to avoid collisions with deer during the breeding season. Hitting a deer with your vehicle can cause serious injury to you, a great expense, and the death of a deer.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: A healthy, mature white-tailed deer male’s antlers in June and early July, can grow ____ each day. A. ¼ inch B. ½ inch C. 1 inch D. 3 inches

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: White-throated sparrows have just returned to the Times News area to overwinter here until migrating north again in late April.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.

Mature whitetail bucks, like this one photographed a few years ago, begin a “solitary” life by mid-September. They are at their prime weight now which is needed because they feed very little during the peak rutting time of late October to early November. BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
This fawn was photographed about June 10. It was probably about 2 weeks old. Fawns are born about 200 days after the doe is bred in the fall.
Neither weather nor cold dependent as some people think, deer antlers loosen and fall off from early January through March. This buck shows the “scar” where an antler once was attached. Decreasing hormones in deer lead to the antler drop. I photographed one buck with antlers on April I one year.
A whitetail doe generally begins breeding at about 18 months of age and normally has two fawns. Some 7-month-old females may get bred in December but they have only one fawn born in late June/early July.
The velvet antler of a deer, elk or moose is one the fastest growing tissues in nature. It is soft and easily damaged so buck are careful with their “head gear.” This closeup of a road-killed buck shows the fuzzy covering of the growing antlers.
Generally a buck in its first year of antler growth produces a small set of antlers. Those with no branched antlers are referred to as “spike bucks,” like this one photographed about four weeks ago.
Deer are adapted as browsers, eating buds and young shoots. However good acorn production in the fall helps deer eat all fall, allowing them to store more body fat for better winter survival and larger antler growth.
Deer's molting of the summer coat proceeds from the back down through the side and legs. When complete, the grayer winter coat is composed of highly insulated hollow hairs allowing them to withstand very cold temperatures and snow.
This photo shows the female (doe) having already molted into its winter coat while this year's fawn has lost most of its spotted appearance, but not completed its winter pelage change yet.
The winter coat of a deer helps it blend in with autumn and winter surroundings. Note also, the dark edge of a deer's ears, important for capturing a bit more sunlight to help warm this susceptible area of a deer's anatomy.
A whitetail buck in October will begin ranging through his territory making scrapes. He will paw the ground removing leaves and/or grasses and leave his “calling card.” He will make regular checks on these scrapes to see if any does, ready to breed have visited them. Almost always they choose a spot with an overhanging branch to leave scent from facial glands as well.