Tuesday, 24 January 2012

How to Chance On Whitetail Trails Using Time Tested Strategies Right Now

By Barry Fernandez


White-tailed deer leave multiple identifiable hints of the activity. To seek out deer, try to look for sign. Some sign is significant, some more subtle. Deer convey stories with the sign they leave. Through looking at sign, you gain awareness of their actions which enable you to organize your hunting plans.

Fresh scrapes can be found nearly year-round, but the majority of scrapes appear when breeding season begins. As the bachelor groups formed in summer break up and bucks become solitary travelers, scraping activity increases greatly. This occurs a few weeks before the first females breed.

Buck rubs usually are a natural part of the communication system of deer. We identify rubs - the white scars of the forest - by sight. More likely deer identify them by odor. A buck rubs a tree through the base of his antlers, not the tines. In the process, he deposits fragrance from glands within the forehead. Commonly, the bigger the tree rubbed, the bigger the buck accountable for the rub.

Deer hunters typically make use of the words "runway," "trail" and "crossing" interchangeably, but they are not exactly the same thing. Deer paths usually are distinct and pronounced paths, or runways, in the low-lying vegetation resulting from regular use. A crossing is really a minimal location which deer are likely to pass through. In regions of heavy grass or ferns, seek out body-width paths where deer have broken down foliage.

Deer beds are oval-shaped depressions in leaves, grass, dirt or snow where deer rested to conserve energy, or chew the cud. Deer bed down for as long as an hour and a half at a time. It is not known how much actual sleeping is done by a deer in its bed, or whether deer sleep at all. Deer sometimes will lay their heads back on a flank or hind leg, their eyelids will droop, and total alertness will drop.

Many whitetails have easy access to salt put out for cattle and horses. In addition, deer use natural mineral deposits in the woods. Natural licks are often found in poorly drained soil in bottom lands. Water collects in these areas and stands until dissipated by evaporation, leaving its dissolved minerals.

When deer run, they leave prints with their hooves and dewclaws. Dewclaws also show up in the tracks of heavy deer when walking on soft ground or snow. Generally, the more toe spread and the deeper the impression, the larger the deer.

Can you distinguish the difference between a buck track and a doe track by shape and size of the track? Some hunters and scientists believe they can; others say the only sure way is to see the deer that made the track. If you find prints that are prominently longer and deeper than other tracks in an area, the maker could by an exceptional buck-or a very large doe.

As a buck's supply of testosterone decreases in winter, a separation layer forms at the pedestal of the antlers and thy fall off. In the north, this casting of antlers occurs from mid December to late January. Farther south, some bucks retain their antlers until March or April. Latitude itself, however is not the main cause for this difference in timing.

Nutrition and general health, as well as social rank (dominance), affects testosterone levels that control antler growth and casting. A northern buck will carry his antlers as long as a southern buck, given the nutritional level of the southern deer.




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