Personal Notes on Black-tailed Deer

Young doe feeding in an apple orchard - Cuneo Creek Campground, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California

An older fawn that was grazing with a doe and a yearling in some tall grass.

Deer feeding signs. These acorns were cracked open by deer. The animals take the acorn between their teeth and grind it open. They manipulate the opened acorn with the tongue to get the nut out. They spit out the shells and eat the nut.

A doe and her fawn feeding on blackberry leaves.

Deer scat in pellet form.

A small Douglas fir sapling with a small scar, and a tan oak tree with fresh scars, and old scars, from bucks rubbing their antlers.

A buck with velvet on his antlers. This is early in the season.

These photos show the same buck. The left was taken November 11, 2006. The right was taken on December 21, 2006. They are of the same buck. On the left, he is in the prime of the rutting season and has lots of energy. At right, he is at the end of the rutting season and is exhausted. Bucks spend a lot of time following the does around and expend a lot of energy. They don't eat as much during this time. At the end of the season, they are very tired. The buck on the right was just laying in the grass, trying to sleep, and getting rained on. He was gone the next morning, but he allowed me to approach quite closely for the photo.

There are four fawns around this doe. They are not all hers though. What happened was the doe who was the mother of two of these fawns got locked on the wrong side of a fence. Her fawns were stuck on the other side, trying to get to their mother so they could nurse. They were hungry! So, when the second doe and her two fawns showed up, the other fawns immediately ran to her and started bleating to be fed. She sniffed at them and would not feed them. Then she chased them off. She is a really skinny doe and likely didn't have any extra milk to give the other fawns.

These acorns shells were all that was left after deer fed on the nuts. The deer take the acorn and use their teeth to crack the shell, then use the tongue to maneuver the nut out. The shell is spit out.

A buck with velvet antlers eating an apple in a campground. This campground is located in an old apple orchard and many animals feed on the bounty at the end of summer, when the fruit falls from the trees.

Deer scats compared to those of other herbivores often found in the same environment.

This is the typical overlapping trail of a deer. The hind track is on top of the front track. Deer have sharp hooves, which they can use to defend themselves. My cat was once chased by a mother deer who perceived him as a threat to her fawn.

This hind track had nearly perfect register on top of the front track. Many deer tracks overlap. You have to look closely to see it sometimes.

Hind foot.

This is a front track. You can tell by looking at the position of the dewclaws. The dewclaws on the front feet are angled away from the foot. The dewclaws on the hind feet are set at a more parallel angle.

This is the hind track. You can tell by looking at the orientation of the dewclaws. The dewclaws on the hind feet are oriented fairly parallel with the hooves and the direction of travel. Those on the front feet are angled outward.

This doe was feeding on acorns in early fall. The late summer diet of berries changes as the crops change. Few berries are available this time of year, so the deer switch to the newest crop, which happens to be acorns. These nuts are very rich in nutrients and help the deer gain back some of the weight they lose when they raise fawns all summer.

Doe under an oak tree. During fall, the deer tend to spend a lot of time foraging under the trees where they find nutritious acorns. This one spent most of the morning and afternoon under this same tree. Why expend the energy to go to another tree when there are plenty of acorns right there? Animals need all the energy they can get to make it through the lean winter months.

This doe was curious about hikers on the trail below her. She peeked around the tree and gave them a look, then went back to feeding. In parks, many animals become accustomed to the presence of people.

This fawn was resting at the edge of a meadow. Deer like to find places to rest where they have a view of their surroundings. This helps them stay aware of predators.

Often, this is the only view you will get of a deer as it bounds away from you. Sometimes they can be skittish and run off at the approach of people.

The teeth of a deer are large and relatively flat on top. This helps them grind up their food. Some foods, such as acorns, can be very tough and these are the perfect type of  teeth needed to break them apart.

Side view of a deer skull found along the river. Deer lack top incisor teeth, but have excellent grinding teeth on the sides.

The mortality rate of young deer can be high, depending on the number of predators in the area. In this case, a yearling was killed by coyotes. Coyotes tend to drag parts of the skeleton all over the place, rather than feeding in one location. Several days after this photo was taken, the remains disappeared, likely moved off into the brush so the bones could be opened for the marrow. Animals in nature do not waste anything, especially a food source.

Eye shine from a deer at night. Using a flash on the camera, or a flashlight, will allow you to see the eyes shining back at you.