Whitetaildeer

Senses and Physiology

The average whitetail deer stands up to 45 inches at the shoulder and has an overall length of 80 inches. It can weigh up to 400 lbs in some regions, typically the northern most regions of the whitetails' range. Males are typically larger and can be distinguished by their antlers if they are beyond their first year of development. Whitetail deer have keen senses. The debate on whether or not deer can see color remains a hot topic. But, it is clear that deer do have superior vision. They are corpuscular animals, seeing very well at night. Deer can also detect movement very well with their eyes positioned so they can see approximately 270 degrees without ever moving their heads. The whitetail's sense of hearing is also keen with 7 times the reflective surface area on the ear than do humans. Possibly the most keen sense is that of smell. Although distances of scenting capability vary with air conditions, deer have been known to smell several hundred yards away. This sense is most important as it tells all about any possible threat. A predator can look or sound like something else but the sense of smell will define exactly what the object is in question.

Food

Deer have been known to eat over 700 different species of vegetation in North America. This doesn't imply that deer aren't selective in what they eat. What governs a whitetail's choice of food is the nutritional value of the forage. Deer seem to select feed that is most nutritious to them. The standard amount of food that a whitetail will normally eat on an average day is approximately equal to 3% of its body weight. The optimum protein content of forage for deer is 16% year round. Food with this level of protein content will be "preferred" by whitetails.

Whitetail deer foods can be classified into different categories. These are: grasses, forbs, browse, mast crop and agricultural crops.

Grasses include herbaceous vegetation with blades'i.e. plants that have parallel veinage. Deer feed on both annual and perennial grasses throughout the year but choose to utilize them either in their highest nutritional value, as is the case is in spring, or when other forage is nutritionally inferior to grass. Generally, perennial grasses are more nutritious' they start growing earlier, stay green longer and withstand drought better. Protein content of grasses declines as they approach maturity and is virtually a maintenance only food when they are dry.

Forbs are basically those plants that don't have parallel veinage but rather netted or branched veinage. Forbs are generally favored in summer after grasses have passed their succulent stage. Some forbs are classified as legumes which are those plants that bear seeds in pods. Legumes are also very high in protein. Some forbs can have more than a 25% crude protein content which is considerably higher than the 15% crude protein content of perennial grasses which are the more nutritious category of grasses.

Browse is distinguished by woody growth such as twigs, leaves, needles, catkins, tree flower buds, shrubs and vines. Deer tend to browse more than they graze, except during spring and summer. Like most vegetation, its nutritional value is highest during the active growing season. At maturity browse is commonly more nutritious than grasses. During fall and winter browse is quite low in nutritional value.

Mast crop includes the fruits and nuts of vegetation. Though heavily sought in the fall months, mast crop doesn't have high protein content. However, mast crops typically contain high amounts of fat and starches that are necessary to sustain deer during cold weather.

Agricultural crops are those raised by and for man. Deer will take advantage of farmers' crops if they are superior to or equal to natural foods' nutritional values.