Photo © 2005 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

White-Tail Deer

Fawns

White-Tail does are dropping drop their fawns in late spring. The mothers leave their fawns in tall growth - protected brushy or grassy areas - while they forage for food during the day. The fawns spend their time curled up and hidden. Lacking any scent they foil potential predators by freezing motionless and silent.

You may occasionally stumble over one of these little creatures in a field. Ill-informed people sometimes assume the creature has been orphaned and take them to wildlife rehab centers for care. Rest assured that they're not abandoned. In fact the doe is probably nearby watching attentively over her offspring.

Antlers

Around the same time the velvety growth of new antlers begins to form on the heads of male Whitetail Deer.

Photo copyright © 2005 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

The new set grows beneath a velvety covering of new skin filled with blood vessels. Antlers are the almost exclusive prerogative of male deer (females occasionally sprout a set of diminutive antlers, but it's a very rare occurrence) and play an important role in courtship and mating in this species - females seem to go for the largest and flashiest set of antlers they can find. Since antler size is directly correlated with the amount and quality of food eaten by the male at this time the buck with the largest rack is obviously the best at obtaining food and therefore the most "fit" making it (from the female's perspective, at least) the best candidate for potential fatherhood.

While hunting is vital to keep the deer population under control, the human propensity to seek out and kill the deer with the largest set of antlers will no doubt have an interesting effect on antler size in the future.

Photo by Ruby Jung. All rights reserved.

Deer Rubs

As a prelude to the annual deer rut, the bucks' antlers mature and harden and the soft, velvety covering which nourished their growth dies and begins to drop off, hastened by the bucks' habit of rubbing their now itchy antlers against anything that will hasten its departure.

For homeowners with newly bought, freshly planted young trees this can be a frustrating experience since the bucks tend to rub away the bark along with velvet. This seriously injures - if not outright kills - the trees. For orchard owners this habit can be quite an expensive proposition. But for hunters these "rubs" are a welcome sight since they signal the prelude to the start of the rut and deer season.

Photo © 2005 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Shed Antlers

In the White-tail Deer, the antlers on the buck are only temporary, and each winter, with no need to impress females or intimidate other males, they're shed. Within a few months another pair will begin to grow and the cycle will begin again.

These shed antlers are an important mineral source for other herbivores. Mice, chipmunks, voles, squirrels and a host of other small mammals eat them for the salts and other minerals they contain (which is why you so seldom find old antlers in the forest).

From our Feature Archive:

• When Biology Pays Off (Deer Ticks and Lyme Disease)
• Tick Tips

Offsite Links:

• Missouri Department of Conservation White-Tail Deer page

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