2. My fiancé lives and breathes hunting and fishing, therefore I have been drawn into taking part in those activities. We hunt everything from deer to goose, dove, duck and on and on. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to research one of the animals that we hunt. I am choosing to inquire about deer. My Experience:
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4. What are deerantlers made out of? What are the antlers used for? What is the life span of a deer? What does a deer’s diet consist of? Do deer have a certain time of year that they reproduce? Questions:
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6. All male deer have antlers that are shed and re-grown every year from a structure called a pedicle. Sometimes a female will have a small stub. The only female deer with antlers are Reindeer. Antlers grow as highly vascular spongy tissue covered in a skin called velvet. Before the beginning of a species' mating season, the antlers calcify under the velvet and become hard bone. The velvet is then rubbed off leaving dead bone which forms the hard antlers. After the mating season, the pedicle and the antler base are separated by a layer of softer tissue, and the antler falls off. Antlers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer
8. One way that many hunters are able to track main paths that the deer travel on is because of their "rubs". A rub is used to deposit scent from glands near the eye and forehead and physically mark territory. During the mating season, bucks use their antlers to fight one another for the opportunity to attract mates in a given herd. The two bucks circle each other, bend back their legs, lower their heads, and charge. Each species has its own characteristic antler structure – for example white-tailed deer antlers include a series of tines sprouting upward from a forward-curving main beam, while Fallow Deer and Moose antlers are palmate, with a broad central portion. How are antlers used? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer
9. The lifespan of a whitetail is 11 to 12 years (17 to 20 years in captivity). But most free-roaming deer never live that long; they are hit by cars, succumb to disease, killed by predators or shot by hunters. In heavily hunted areas, many bucks live only 1½ or 2 ½ years. Deer grow to about 6 feet long and stand 3 to 4 feet high. They are reddish or grayish in color, depending on their habitat and the time of year. The weight of whitetails varies, from 100 to more than 300 pounds. Life Span http://www.deer.com/
10. The white-tailed deer is a ruminant, which means it has a four-chambered stomach. Each chamber has a different and specific function that allows the deer to quickly eat a variety of different food, digesting it at a later time in a safe area of cover. Whitetail deer eat large varieties of food, commonly eating legumes and foraging on other plants, including shoots, leaves, cactus, and grasses. They also eat acorns, fruit, and corn. Their special stomach allows them to eat some things that humans cannot, such as mushrooms that are poisonous to humans and Red Sumac. Their diet varies in the seasons according to availability of food sources. They will also eat hay and other food that they can find in a farm yard. Diet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
11. Females enter estrus, also called the rut, in the fall, normally in late October or early November, triggered mainly by declining photoperiod. Sexual maturation of females depends on population density. Females can mature in their first year, although this is unusual and would occur only at very low population levels. Most females mature at 1–2 years of age. Most are not able to reproduce until six months after they mature. Rut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
12. Males compete for the opportunity of breeding females. Sparring among males determines a dominance hierarchy. Bucks will attempt to breed with as many females as possible, losing physical condition since they rarely eat or rest during the rut. There are many factors as to how intense the "rutting season" will be. Air temperature is one major factor of this intensity. Any time the temperature rises above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the males will do much less traveling looking for females, or they will be subject to overheating or dehydrating. Another factor for the strength in rutting activity is competition. If there are numerous males in a particular area, then they will compete more for the females. Breeding Competition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
13. White-tailed deer communicate in many different ways using sounds, scent, body language, and marking. All white-tailed deer are capable of producing audible noises, unique to each animal. Fawns release a high-pitched squeal, known as a bleat, to call out to their mothers. Does also bleat. Grunting produces a low, guttural sound that will attract the attention of any other deer in the area. Bucks snort, a sound that often signals danger. As well as snorting, bucks also grunt at a pitch that gets lower with maturity. Bucks are unique in their grunt-snort-wheeze pattern that often shows aggression and hostility. White-tailed deer communicate is with their white tail. When a white-tailed deer is spooked it will raise its tail to warn the other deer in the area that can see them. Communication http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
