DEER WEIGHT TABLE (Use this table to estimate the weight of your deer by taking its chest measurement)
CHEST SIZE (INCHES)	LIVE WEIGHT	FIELD DRESSED WEIGHT
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46	85 91 97 104 111 119 127 136 145 156 166 178 191 204 218 234 250 267 286	67 72 77 83 90 97 104 112 120 129 139 149 160 172 184 196 212 228 244

By Russell Thornberry 

The North American deer family includes white-tailed, black-tailed and mule deer, elk, caribou, reindeer and moose. The sizes of the members of this big family range from a mere 100-pound Coues whitetail at the small end of the spectrum to the largest of all members of the deer family, the Alaska/Yukon moose, which reaches 1,600 pounds or more.

So, what do all the members of the deer family have in common?

Several things. They all grow antlers that they shed in the late winter. With the exception of caribou and reindeer, only the males grow antlers. Female caribou and reindeer grow small antlers.

All members of the deer family are ruminants, which means they have 4-compartment stomachs and chew their cud like cattle. They all have cloven hooves, which means their hooves are split into two sections. And none of the deer family have upper incisor teeth. That means that they have bottom front teeth but no front teeth on their upper jaws. However, they have molars (jaw teeth) on the upper and lower jaws.

All members of the deer family have hollow hair, which insulates against cold weather. Cows, horses, buffalo and goats, unlike the members of the deer family, have solid hair.

So, a moose might look nothing like a white-tailed deer, but they are cousins with all these things in common.

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The print of a deer’s cloven hoof is a split heart shape. The pointed end is forward. Size varies greatly from region to region and from one subspecies to another. Most tracks are between 2 and 3 inches long on relatively hard ground. If they are much smaller, a fawn probably made them. (See illustrations below.) 

BUCK TRACK A mature buck's tracks range from 2-3/4" to 3-1/2" in length.	DOE TRACK A mature doe track ranges from 2-1/4" to 2-3/4" in length.	LARGE-BODIED BUCK Rear tracks of a mature buck fall slightly behind their front tracks with no overlap.
BUCK & DOE TRACKS Rear tracks of young bucks and does slightly overlap their front tracks.	OLD DEER Toes of older deer hooves are often worn and more rounded than those of younger deer.	YOUNG DEER The young deer typically have sharp, pointed hooves.

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• What’s the difference between an albino deer and a white deer?
• Is every white deer an albino?
• Can deer be black, too?
• What are my chances to see a white deer?
• What's a piebald deer?

Albino deer are white and as rare as gold. If you ever see an all-white deer in the woods, you will be very lucky. These deer, called albino whitetails, are quite rare. Only one deer in 100,000 is born this way, say biologists. Chances of seeing one in the wild are very low. It might be easier finding a rare coin or a gold nugget in a stream.

So rare are albino deer that generations of American Indians thought them to be magical. The Indians had no way of knowing that all living things have cells, and within those cells are chromosomes and genes. Genes are what make us unique.

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By Gita Smith
Photo by Deane Winegar

Fawns are often born as twin pairs if a doe has enough food to eat. In years when there's not enough food, a doe might have just one fawn or none at all.

Fawns are born in warm weather months. Amazingly, they stand up on their wobbly legs just minutes after they are born. The doe cleans them and eats the birth sac that surrounded the fawn while it was inside the doe. The reason that does lick their young and eat the sac is to get rid of the smell so that coyotes, wolves and other predators won't smell anything and come to attack the fawn.

She moves the newborn fawns to another place as soon as possible, away from any smells of their birth.

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Photo by Deane Winegar
The whitetail fawn’s coat coloration enables the animal to blend with patterns of sun and shade. Researchers counting the number of spots on fawns found them to range from 272 to 342. Spot size averages between 0.6 and 1.3 centimeters (0.24 to 0.51 inches) in diameter.

Two rows of spots occur along each side of the area of the backbone, extending from the base of the tail to the ears. Spots on the neck are two continuous white lines. The remainder of the pelage spots is restricted to the trunk of the body, over the sides and flanks. Fawns lose their spotted coats when the molt occurs in August or September.

The word pelage (pronounced pell-edge) means the hairy covering of a mammal. It refers to a mammal’s coat.

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• What's a buck rub?
Buck rubs are long polished scars that you can see. They’re found low on saplings and bushes where the deer’s antlers have scraped away bark. Rubs signify that a buck inhabits the area. .

• What does a deer bedding spot look like?
Look very carefully. Bedding spots are slight depressions or ovals where the leaves have been pressed by body weight. Unless a deer has been scuffling up the leaves and brush, a bed may be almost indiscernible. A bedding depression on snow is more noticeable.

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• How do deer talk to each other?
• What kinds of sounds do deer make?
• Why do deer stomp their feet?

Whitetails, especially does and fawns, sometimes communicate by bleating like a lamb or bawling like a calf. Bucks and mature does also snort, and a buck’s snort is often characterized by a kind of whinnying or whistling.

Very little communication among white-tailed deer is vocal, but they do vocalize more than most people realize and in a variety of ways. Adults or fawns may groan in complaint when they are restrained. Fawns may bleat to call their dams (mothers), and bucks occasionally bleat when chasing does during the rut.

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White-tailed deer have five sets of external glands: 1) preorbital glands in the corners of the eyes; 2) tarsal glands on the inner surfaces of the hind legs; 3) forehead glands located, as the name implies, on the forehead; 4) metatarsal glands on the outer surfaces of the hind legs; and 5) interdigital glands between the hooves.

	PREORBITAL GLAND The preorbital gland, located immediately in front of the eye socket, is sometimes called the tear gland. However, the waxy substance in the preorbital gland serves as another means of identification through odor as the deer rubs his face against branches, shrubs and trees. The preorbital gland does not produce tears.
	TARSAL GLAND Tarsal glands are located on the inside of the hocks of both hind legs on bucks and does alike. During the rut, both sexes squat down and urinate on these glands and rub their hind legs together, which turns the glands from their normal white to dark brown or black. This process also helps deer locate one another during the rut.
	FOREHEAD GLAND As the name implies, the forehead glands are located on the buck's forehead, between the eyes and the bases of his antlers. When he rubs his antlers on shrubs and trees, he also rubs his forehead, leaving the identifiable scent of his forehead glands on them. Leaving his scent on shrubs and trees in this manner is like leaving his personal signature, so that other deer may know he has been there and personally made the rubs.
	METATARSAL GLAND The metatarsal glands are located on the outside of the lower hind legs of both bucks and does. They appear as round white puffs of hair. Their purpose is unknown at this time.
	INTERDIGITAL GLAND The interdigital gland is located in the cleft between the toes of the front hooves of both bucks and does. This gland also emits and odor which is left in the deer's track, enabling other deer to follow by smell. It appears that does leave an identifiable scent through their interdigital glands that tell a buck when they are ready to be bred. The buck singles this track out and follows it much like a dog sniffing his way along the ground.

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• Why do bucks grow antlers?
Whitetail bucks’ antlers evolved as a weapon system and display mechanism associated with social hierarchy, especially in terms of reproduction.

• Are Antlers like bones?
Antlers are the crowning glory of the male white-tailed deer. Antlers are composed of true bone. They grow from pedicels on the frontal bones. These pedicels form the buttons, which are the only antler development of most male fawns.

• When do deer get their first antlers?
A buck’s first set of antlers grows during his yearling spring and summer. Annual antler growth begins in mid-March to April. The size of a buck’s antlers depends on his age and nutritional intake.

• How are points counted or measured on racks?
A buck’s first set of antlers (or rack) can vary from spikes to as many as 10 points. To be counted, a point must be at least 2.54 centimeters (1 inch) long. This length is consistent with scoring standards.

• What happens to the velvet on antlers and why do some antlers grow in weird shapes?
The growing bone—or antler—is full of blood vessels and nerves. Antlers are covered by a hairy skin called velvet. Injuries occur easily to the soft, sensitive growing bone, and accidents during this state cause many deformed antlers.

Growth continues through August or September. The bone then hardens. The velvet dries up and is rubbed off or falls off.

• When do bucks shed their antlers?
By late December through early January, the supply of testosterone decreases. A separation layer forms at the pedicel, and antlers are shed when they fall off.

In March or April, the whole process starts over. Scientists believe it probably starts under the influence of increasing daylight hours and prolactin secretions. (Prolactin is a protein hormone of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland.)

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