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General Info

Bucks

Does

Fawns

A deer's behavior is directly related to the environment he lives in. Today, in increasingly suburban areas where whitetail's and people live side-by-side, humans are the driving force on deer. Our houses, roads and everyday comings and goings impact where and when deer feed, travel and bed.

American Indians believed the moon, wind and rain affected deer movements. Current studies confirm that deer activity indeed varies depending on temperature, moon phases and even barometric pressure.

Whitetail's, especially mature bucks, are active at night, preferring to feed, mingle and mate under a cloak of darkness. But no deer is completely nocturnal. Otherwise, we'd never shoot a big buck! Deer remain active at dawn and start to move again at dusk.

Deer typically bed down at midday. Studies have shown that they rarely if ever bed in the same exact spot twice; perhaps that deters a predator from catching their scent and lying in wait for an easy meal the next day. Deer do not sleep for long periods of time. Rather, they dose, always trying to stay alert.

Although Whitetail's are social animals that are found in herds, the sexes stay largely divided. Outside the breeding season, a mature buck almost never stays with a "doe unit", or a group of does and fawns. Bucks travel alone or band together in bachelor's clubs for most of the year.

Whitetail's communicate with vocalizations and scents. For example, a buck trailing a doe in the rut might utter the "tending grunt." She might bleat back. A buck rub-urinates in a scrape, peeing over his tarsal glands to lay down scent that might attract a doe or challenge another male. Scientists continue to study the complexities of deer communication.

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