Deer Ecology 101

[El General]

I found two bucks dead that had been locked up from fighting the first week of March one year. They had not been dead more than a day or two at most when they were found. My guess is that a doe fawn was large/old enough to come into heat and that was the cause of the fight.
On my place here in Goliad County I am still seeing a few young bucks sparring on TC's as of this week.

I got trail cam pics of a couple of bucks fighting hard (not just sparring) in March one year. At this particular feeder, an old dominant buck had been killed in mid November. Starting about 12-1, we saw alot of pics of new bucks showing up there. My theory was that these bucks were sorting out dominance in a territory that was up for contention.

The two bucks I have picks on in March, the winner made that his territory and was the dominant buck in the area for a couple of years. The loser changed territory to a spot we had not previously seen him before and he was never again seen in his old territory.

[hammer63]

Man I love this thread!

[westexhunter75]

Won't they start shedding early if they're in poor health/condition? We have one buck that shed one antler last week. He looked very skinny and rutted down.

[Top Of Texas]

I haven't seen, or looked at any data related to health and antler drop. May do a search now out of curiosity. Just in observation, I also have seen some early drops that would seem induced by poor condition or old age, but that's using an inductive process, not a scientific deductive process. So, take with a grain of salt.

[Top Of Texas]

Won't they start shedding early if they're in poor health/condition? We have one buck that shed one antler last week. He looked very skinny and rutted down.

Here you go. Those Quality Deer Management guys put out some good info and in layman terms.

https://www.qdma.com/causes-early-antler-casting/

[Hawkpuppy 1]

Yes, poor health and body condition can cause antlers to drop early. Have seen 3 bucks near Big Spring at the end of December that had already dropped...

[SnJGuin]

Really enjoying this thread, thanks for the information

[lovemylegacy]

I put a camera on a scrape next to a well used trail coming from a bedding area that is very remote and receives no travel or pressure and left it year round on video. This area is in a box canyon that is pretty inaccessible to humans except on foot and we stay out of the area.

Deer would check it and pee in it year round. We did not see bucks working the mesquite branch above with their orbitals except for pre rut, rut, and post rut in the fall.

What was interesting was the number of animals other than deer (bobcats, foxes, hogs, etc) that would sniff the scrape when they were in the area.

I think some scrapes are year round 'sign posts' that the deer use, and some of them are made only during rut and neglected afterwards.

Im with ya on that. It seems it is usually a certain specific scrape, I would assume had to do with location common to the majority of deer movement.

[lovemylegacy]

Here you go. Those Quality Deer Management guys put out some good info and in layman terms.

https://www.qdma.com/causes-early-antler-casting/

Is the QDMA site still running? I sure do like that site.

[Top Of Texas]

Is the QDMA site still running? I sure do like that site.

The site is still up. How currently active they are, I don't know. But they sure do put out good info. Science based and hunter targeted. I've posted numerous links on various topics.

[lovemylegacy]

The site is still up. How currently active they are, I don't know. But they sure do put out good info. Science based and hunter targeted. I've posted numerous links on various topics.

I love the website, like you said, lots of info, real life based info, backed by science, but its not just "laboratory" science, its field science that the layman can get involved in.

[Cajun shooter]

You know you can download all of their articles (QDMA) in PDF format and save them to your computer.


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[Deepwoods]

Good info here

[lovemylegacy]

You know you can download all of their articles (QDMA) in PDF format and save them to your computer.


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I would have about as much chance doing that as killing a 200" buck

[sweldo73]

You know you can download all of their articles (QDMA) in PDF format and save them to your computer.


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I don't see an option to download the articles as PDfs. Do you have to be a member/logged in for that?