Deer Sign
By : Ted Wawrzyniak – Biologist
So you’ve done all the work to create a quality habitat. You’ve planted year-round food plots and created ponds. You have managed your woodlots to provide optimal cover. You may have even planted some additional trees. You’ve cut trails and built stands in what you have decided are strategic locations. So how do you know how many deer you have on your property? What type of deer are present? Any big bucks?
Of course direct observation and trail cameras can provide some very definite answers to these questions, but if you rely solely on this type of information for your answers, you are missing a large portion of your deer herd. You can get a better understanding of what the structure of the deer herd in your area consists of based on some very simple observation of deer sign. Most of this information is taken from Dr. Ken Nordberg’s “Whitetail Hunter’s Almanac” (4th Edition). You may order the entire almanac directly from Dr. Nordberg at 7833 Noble Ave. N.; Brooklyn Park, MN 55443.
The most apparent deer sign seen by hunters is deer tracks. By measuring the length of these tracks, you can get a fairly accurate estimate of the age of the deer that made that track. You should measure this track from the front tip of the track to the imprint left by the dewclaw. If you cannot see imprint left by the dewclaw, take the length of the hoof print alone and divide it by 2. Next, add this number to the length of the hoof to get the track length. This is done because the hoof print is roughly two-thirds of this total measurement. The numbers I will be giving you are for deer in the fall. They may be slightly smaller during the spring and summer. If your track measures 3 ½ inches or less, the deer that made it was fawn. A 4 inch track is typically made by a yearling doe. An adult doe or a yearling buck will make a track that is 4 ½ inches in length. A 2 ½ year old buck will make a track that is 5 inches in length. If you see a track that is 5 ½ to 6 inches long, the deer that made that track is a 3 ½ - 6 ½ years old. Since it is really unrealistic to carry a tape measure with you at all times, I have measured my hand and have marked of each of these significant marks on my hand so I know quickly what type of deer made that track. So maybe we can gauge the success our QDM programs by how much of our hand we use (OK, that was a poor attempt at humor). A great deal can also be learned from examining the size of deer droppings. This is not considered as accurate as measuring tracks, but if the droppings are available, you might as well use them. Droppings should be measured the long way. A fawn will generally have droppings of about ¼ inch long. A yearling doe will have a dropping that is 3/8 inch long. An adult doe or yearling buck will have a dropping length of ½ inch. The droppings of a 2 ½ year-old buck will be about 5/8 inch in length. The droppings of a buck that is 3 ½ - 6 ½ years of age will generally be about ¾ - 1 ¼ inches long. I did think of a joke for this one as well, but I’m not even going to go there. You can probably just insert your favorite poop joke here.
Another sign you may run into while you are in the woods is deer beds. Deer beds are generally oval in shape. To find out what kind of deer was laying there, simply measure the bed the long way. A fawn will create a bed that is approximately 30-36 inches in length. A yearling doe will make a bed about 38 inches long. An adult doe or yearling buck will make a bed that is about 42 inches long. A bed which is 45 inches long is likely made by a 2 ½ year old buck. Once you get a deer bed that in the area of 50 – 56 inches long, you are looking at a bed made by a 3 ½ - 6 ½ year old buck. Keep in mind that when you start seeing beds, you should not spend a whole lot of time in there. This should be treated as sacred ground and should be avoided whenever possible. Deer have to feel safe in the area that they sleep in, so if you constantly disturb them there, they will find another place to lay their heads. Knowing where deer bed, however, is very important information and your hunting strategies should be developed with this area, along with feeding areas, in mind.
Now your ability to see this sign depends on one thing. That deer are present in the area. The top three things you can do to assure this are
And the most important thing
is:
I can’t stress this last point enough. Many people think that you can constantly go through the woods and scare deer off and they will come back. You may get a few fawns or yearlings to stick around, but forget about any mature deer. Even if you don’t think you have scared deer away, you have either unknowingly done this or left so much scent behind that it is essentially the same thing. I have known of people who have gone through a certain area of woods, smoking a cigarette at the same time. I have gone back there an hour later and even I could smell it. What do you think a deer smells? They know what humans smell like and they can smell you for hours, and even days if the conditions are right, after you have been in an area (and you don’t have to be smoking for this to happen). It does not matter what kind of habitat you provide. If you spend too much time in the woods, you will scare them off. I know some people own woods for recreation other than hunting. That is fine, just don’t expect it to be a hunting paradise. You must make a choice. On public lands, this is very difficult to control, but at least in some of the larger public areas you have an equal playing field and if you don’t mind walking a little, you can find some areas with low traffic.
Deer sign is not an exact science, but you can get a real good idea from using the techniques described here. I have been using them for a few years now, and have found them to work pretty well. If you would like to read more on deer sign, I recommend purchasing the Almanacs published by Dr. Ken Nordberg. He has some great information in them. He has several volumes covering additional topics as well. You can usually see him speak at Game Fair as well. In addition, he usually has a booth there and enjoys talking to anybody about deer hunting.
Happy Hunting!