Meat Cuts

Foods Eaten by Deer

The whitetail has a sophisticated four part stomach that digests everything from cactus to acorns, and
produces heat as a by-product. They can live in a wide variety of habitats because they eat so many
different types of foods.

Whitetails require an abundant food supply consisting mainly of forbs and grasses. In the winter, deer
eat crops and crop residue, nut, buds and twigs.  Whitetails can survive for a long time without water
if their food has a high water content. The less water available in the food, the more they must
depend on streams, lakes, potholes, creeks and other surface water sources. Lack of water will limit deer populations.

Here are some of the most common foods eaten by deer:
Acorns
Alfalfa
Browse (buds and attached twigs)
Cactus and other succulents
Corn and other agricultural crops
Crop Residues
Emergent Aquatics
Flowers
Forbs (low-growing, broad-leaved plants)
Fruits
Grasses
Legumes
Mushrooms
Nuts
Soybeans
Vegetables

Calling Whitetails

TIPS FOR SUCCESS
To be consistently successful, the whitetail hunter needs all the advantage he can possibly get in his favor. The three main defenses that he has to overcome are the deer's nose, ears and eyes. The eyes are mot easy and by standing still and wearing camo hats, face masks and gloves, etc., you can defeat them. The ears are a bit harder, but again, by standing still and reproducting the sounds that are most common, appealing and challenging to the deer (grunts, bleats, snorts and fight sounds of the whitetail) you can increase the chance of seeing your trophy up close. The last and hardest to deal with is the nose, but by using soaps, sprays, scent eliminator, buck urine, doe-in-heat urine, cover and masking scents, you can confuse and defeat his best defense.

WHEN TO GRUNT
Bucks grunt when they are looking for, trailing or fighting over a doe in heat. Therefore, grunters should be used during the fall (rut) breeding season. When a buck hears the grunt he will think another buck is in his area and will come to investigate. Saying the word "urk" silently about one second in length will get the rutting grunt sound. Make three grunts then wait 30 minutes and repeat.

BLEAT CALLING
Bleat calling works on both bucks and does at all times of the year, especially during the early fall season. From the time a buck sheds the velvet from his antlers he is capable of breeding. At that time he is constantly checking out the does, anticipating the rut that is to come. Both the bucks and does will check out the bleat sound to see (who, why and where) the source. Just say the word "ahhh" silently. Each bleat should be three seconds in length. Make two or three bleats every 30 minutes.

CALLING AND RATTLING
Most deer when responding to a call or rattling will approach from the downwind side. Eliminating or covering human odor is a MUST. Calling near dawn or dusk is the best time. Calling near bedding, feedings or breeding areas is also good. The use of doe or buck urine also helps in calling or rattling situations. Do not call too loud or too long.

Breeding Behaviors

Several months before whitetail deer begin to mate, the bucks begin to establish dominant behaviors.  A social hierarchy which consists of three phases is formed during the whitetail breeding season.  The three phases are prerut, rut, and postrut. During the summer, usually about 5 or 6 bucks live together in open grasslands or prairies along with some does and fawns. Dominance among bucks is determined by the size of the bucks and their racks.  Deer with small racks avoid those with larger racks, and will often groom the larger bucks by licking them on their shoulders and necks.

Smaller bucks will avoid eye contact and will even move out of the way of larger bucks.  In the summer, bucks will rarely settle disputes with their antlers because the antlers are very sensitive and can be injured very easily. The antlers are "in velvet" and will stay in open areas to avoid damaging their antlers. By the end of the summer, almost every buck knows his own position in the hierarchy.

In the fall, summer groups break apart and the bucks become increasingly antagonistic as their antlers begin to harden, usually between September and October. This is known as the prerut stage.  The dominant bucks will stay near the home front in order to maintain the social order.

During this period, bucks will begin to make rubs, which is the bucks way of marking his territory and making his presence known to the other deer.  These bucks will scrape small trees with their antlers, knocking the bark off around two feet from the ground. Early rubs are about 6 inches long and a third of the way around the tree.  Later rubs can be twice as big. A buck will deposit scents from their preorbital glands as they rub these trees. Bucks often tend to rub aromatic trees such as cedar, pine, and cherry and will rarely revisit a rub.

As soon as bucks start making rubs, they will challenge each other by sparring. One buck will approach another buck, holding his head low.  Then they will begin pressing their antlers or foreheads together, and begin pushing each other.  Sparring typically takes place in the daytime.  This sparring helps to reinforce the social ranks that were established earlier in the summer.  Sparring is most common among similar sized bucks.  Later in the prerut, bucks will become increasingly aggresive and will challenge each other more often, Sparring ends with the beginning of the rut phase, which begins when the does go into estrus, which typically lasts between 24 and 36 hours. During this time period, does are receptive to breeding. Does go into estrus at different times, so the rut can continue for a month or more. Rutting activity usually begins in mid October and can last well
into January, depending on the location.

Before the rut begins, bucks will start creating bare patches or depressions in the ground, which are known as scrapes. As the rut becomes underway, more and more scrapes will be made.  Scrapes are usually 1 to 4 feet long.  Scrapes are usually made where there isn't much ground cover. A buck will make several lines or clusters of scrapes near his home turf, which will increase the odds of does finding them. Bucks will also deposit scents and urine on these scrapes.

The urine is the strongest and most important scent used to mark the bucks territory. Bucks will urinate on their legs, mixing the urine with scents from the tarsal glands. This strong smelling mixture is then deposited into the scrapes, and can last several days. Does will signal the bucks when ready to breed by urinating into these scrapes. Does sometimes make their own scrapes.  The rut is the best time to hunt, when bucks are preoccupied with breeding activities. Bucks will become careless and vulnerable during breeding.

Courting activity is initiated when a buck catches a whiff of a doe in estrus. He will begin to give chase to the doe once he has her tracked. The buck holds his head low with chin upward as he begins the chase. He then makes deep and long grunts, and will also make snorts and wheezes during the chase.  When a buck approaches a doe, she will flee until she is ready to begin breeding. During mating, bucks are very intolerant of each other and will lock their anters together in battle, even to the point of killing each other. Once a doe goes into estrus, the buck will feed and bed with her. This behavior is called tending. At this point, he will sniff her rump and chase her.  They will copulate several times while she is in estrus.

The final phase of the breeding season, postrut, begins once all the breedable does have been bred.  At this point, the male hormone levels will drop, and rubbing and scraping activities diminish. Most bucks will lose their antlers in a month after rut ends. Some healthier bucks may carry the antlers for several more months. When breeding is completed, bucks will begin feeding heavily to put on extra fat for the upcoming cold weather.

When the 6 1/2 month gestation period ends, does leave the family groups and go off to deliver in May or June. Does will usually give birth to twins or triplets. Does will remain isolated from the rest of the group until the fawns are fully nursed.  After approximately one month, the doe and fawns will join the family group.

The most important aspect in spotting deer is to see your deer before he sees you. Once you accomplish this you have an advantage, and you can concentrate all your attention on where the animal is and how to close in on him. The whitetail buck on the other hand, has his mind on something else and is expecting only general dangers. The best times to take advantage of this factor are early in the morning and late in the evenings when the deer are moving about and feeding.

After a deer has bedded down, his attention is no longer on getting food. Even if you could spot a bedded buck before he notices you, you have to compete with all his senses, which are more focused on hearing, seeing or smelling an intruder. Not only are deer easy to spot when they're moving about, there is also the chance they may start moving towards you. This will no doubt make your job a lot easier. You can get away with making small noises during the early and late hours, because deer will expect slight disturbances from the movement of other game. But once it quiets down, you'll be at a disadvantage with every movement you make.

The best way to reduce your odds of alerting deer is to be in a hotspot area before the animals begin moving during the early and late hours. In the morning, the stalker should be in his hunting area before the stars begin to fade. You should take a flashlight with you to help guide you in, then sit down and wait until the first hint of daylight before you start moving about looking for a buck.

Most hunters today start the afternoon hunt too early and end it too early. Whitetails do not move out of cover as early in the evening as they did years ago because of this. You'll seldom see a deer till early in the evening most of the time. There's not much sense of getting into the area you want to stalk until the sun is almost setting. When you start hunting, don't give up until the last minute of the shooting time window passes. You may not have the time to stalk some of them, but you know there's not a chance in the world of stalking a buck you haven't spotted.

One of the greatest errors would-be stalkers make is going too fast and too far when looking for bucks. The hunter who barrels through the brush has almost no chance to spot a deer before the animal becomes aware of him. The main trick is to scout for good deer country well before the hunting season starts, then soft shoe through it while spending 90 percent of your time looking, and 10 percent walking. Step on solid rocks or firm ground if possible, never put your weight on anything that can make a snapping or crackling sound. Any deer hears much better than he can see, and he will be instantly alerted to any unnatural sounds. The beginning hunter often sees these deer because they may wait to make sure the noises are from a human and not from something harmless before they bound away. But then, there is not a chance to stalk the deer.