Deer poop is not the most fun topic to talk about; however, it is important to understand what deer poop looks like and how you can analyze the deer poop to effectively scout a piece of property. Every hunter should be informed about deer poop and at least have a general understanding of how they can use it to further their success rates in the woods.
The Shape of Deer Poop
Deer scat has a specific shape that can be easily identified by any hunter. The shape of deer droppings is oval with one end having an indentation shape and the other end having a pointier shape. They are most often dropped in piles of pellets.
Deer poop is specifically larger than rabbit poop; however, is most mistaken for rabbit poop.
Why that Shape?
The shape of deer poop is due to the way that the colon uses a rhythm of opening and closing as the deer poops. Other animals such as rabbits have the same type of colon rhythm that causes this shape. Learn more about whitetail deer anatomy here.
Larger Poop = Bigger Animal
When you are looking at deer scat for scouting purposes, you will want to take into consideration the amount and size of the deer poop. Whitetail Bucks tend to not only drop more deer poop, but their dropping is also bigger in size.
The size of the deer poop will allow you to make a rough estimate of the size of the deer that made the droppings. It is worth noting that mature bucks have more of a tendency to drop pellets that are clumped together.
Bucks also scat in a bigger pile of 60-70, whereas does will poop in piles of 40-50 on average.
What Deer Poop tells You about a Deer’s Diet
The color of the deer poop can give you an indication of the diet that the deer has been consuming. The color of deer droppings ranges from dark brown to green. The darker colors indicate a diet heavy with nuts or eating from a tree. The lighter colors indicate a diet with more corn, beans, and other light foods such as apples.
Although the color of the scat can be an indicator of the deer’s diet, so can the density of the deer’s poop.
The denser the deer poop, the more nuts and twigs they are eating. This is not to say that a deer with dense dropping can never eat alfalfa.
The Location of the Deer Poop
The location of the deer scat does matter. If you are seeing a lot of deer poop in one specific location, analyze that location and see if it is a place that would be good for deer to bed. If it is a good spot for deer to bed, then most likely you have stumbled across a deer bedding area.
Finding a deer bedding area is significant and I would hang a trail camera in that area and figure out if it is a doe bedding area or a buck bedding area.
I often find deer poop on travel paths that deer take regularly. These are mostly found on trails that are going from a food source to a bedding area or bedding to a food source. When looking at deer droppings on a trail, you will want to identify exactly how the deer are using that specific trail and come up with a plan to execute based on that trail.
Temperature Matters
The temperature of the deer poop is a major factor that you need to look at if you are scouting deer during the hunting season.
The warmer the deer scat is the more recent that it was dropped. If the deer poop is still warm at the time that you find it, it means that it was probably from the night before a morning hunt or the afternoon before an evening hunt.
The same concept is applied to the opposite side of the spectrum. With cold deer droppings, it means that the deer is probably nowhere to be found. However, you can still use cold deer scat to locate a place where deer have been and are either bedding or traveling.
How Hunters use Deer Poop
Believe it or not, some hardcore hunters will use deer poop as a scent control. This may sound crazy, but if you think about it why not try to smell like the animal that you are hunting. Although I have never tried this tactic, I can assure you that some hunters do it.
You should be using deer poop in your scouting efforts both during the offseason and during the season. It is a great way to track, locate, and understand how the deer are moving through the property that you are hunting.
As stated above, deer poop should be used in your scouting efforts prior to the hunting season and during the hunting season. Each section above plays a specific role in the way that you can use deer poop to scout for new hunting spots.
Conclusion
Deer poop is not as exciting as buck rubs or buck scrapes; however, they are an important and necessary part of anyone’s scouting and hunting strategy. If you can properly locate, analyze, and plan based on the deer poop that you find, you will have a better idea of where you should hunt this season.
Thank you for visiting The Whitetail Teacher! If you enjoyed this post, make sure to share it with a friend.
If you have any questions or recommendations for new blog posts, please use the contact form.
Learn, Plan, Execute,
The Whitetail Teacher
