How to identify whitetail deer scat   by Jeff

How to identify whitetail deer scat

Whitetailed deer are one of the most hunted and most prized animals in North America today. Sportsmen and hunters prize this unique species for a number of qualities, including it's large body size, soft tender meat, and the ability of mature bucks to develop an attractive and often massive set of antlers. There are many ways to track and identify the size, age and even gender of a deer. One of these ways, is identifying a whitetail deer from it's scat, droppings or more plainly... poop.

When I was younger, my father, a long time tracker and hunter taught me how to identify whitetail deer scat. Through this technique, I have tracked and shot prized whitetail deer. This technique allows us to identify a whitetail deers gender, approximate age and in many cases, it's size.

Before we start out with identifying deer droppings, let's have a look at this animals basic diet. This will give us a better understanding of what we are looking for. Deer are browsing animals, feeding chiefly on the leaves, twigs and fruits of shrubs and trees, and the foliage of forest plants. They also take seeds, fungi, moss, long field grasses and farm crops. They have also been known to swipe vegetables from local country home gardens.

Whitetails show a definite selection of plants and seemingly take first those that are more nutritious. This selectivity can have serious effects. Deer also require large amounts of water on a daily basis.

By knowing what the animal eats, we will know how to identify whitetail deer scat. Whitetail deer scat or turds are sure signs there are deer around and high concentrations of scat is a good indication there are deer hanging around that area. Fresh deer scat will be a light brownish green and very moist with a sheen on it almost, and soft. Older scat will be dark, almost black and very hard. Sometimes it will be in looses piles and other times it will be clumped up in bigger blobs.

The size of the scat pellets is anywhere from 1/4" to 3/4" in length. Bigger deer leave bigger scat and bigger piles. The smaller the scat is, the smaller the deer. By looking closely at the stool, you should be able to see what they have been eating, this varies from season to season.

Deer tend to leave droppings in the vicinity of where they are eating, so a good indication of where you will find a whitetail deer is by searching their dining places.

These are some of the ways on how to identify whitetail deer scat. By utilizing the above, we are able to have a better understanding of where the deer may be frequenting, as well as the size of deer, and the time it may have been in a specific area.

I hope this article answers your question on how to identify whitetail deer scat. Happy hunting

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