Through research we know that white-tailed deer use different sounds: to keep in contact with each other (contact); to express alarm and distress (alarm/distress); to solicit attention from and respond to does (maternal) and fawns(neonatal); to express dominance/threaten other deer (agonistic). Deer also make sounds associated with courtship and breeding behavior (mating).

Alarm/Distress

The Snort is an intense blowing sound produced by expelling air through the nostrils, best described as a loud whew, or whew-whew-whew. Deer that see or hear a disturbance but cannot smell the source often use repeated low snorts, foot stomping, head bobbing and tail flipping, possibly to alert other deer of danger. The head bobbing and foot stomping may be used to startle a predator into moving and giving itself away. A deer’s sense of smell is thought to be independent of conscious discrimination, and deer that smell danger usually snort, then flee while flagging the tail.

The Bawl is an intense call used by deer in distress, often when caught by a predator or trapped. The sound is a loud baa. Does often respond to the call by running in, presumably out of maternal instinct.

Agonistic

The Grunt is used in three different forms to express dominance or to threaten another deer. It is also used to locate other deer, which causes them to respond by coming to the call, or by announcing their location by returning the call.
The Low Grunt is used by both does and bucks throughout the year. The call sounds like a soft guttural err. This is the first level of aggression, used to displace lesser deer. If the lesser animal does not move it is usually rushed and may be kicked with a forefoot by the dominant.

The Grunt-Snort is used most often by bucks during the breeding season in more intense situations. One or more snorts are added to a grunt; err-whew.

The Grunt-Snort-Wheeze is the most intense form of an aggressive call. It consists of a grunt-snort followed by a drawn out wheeze through pinched nostrils. The wheeze may sound like a whistle.

Social Contact

The Social Contact Grunt is often performed by members of a doe group when they become separated, and it may help deer stay in contact when they can’t see each other. In one study only females performed this call. This call is longer than the low grunt and can be heard by humans as far as 100 meters. It may attract bucks during the breeding season.

Maternal/Neonatal

The Maternal Grunt is a low, quick grunt performed at short intervals when a doe approaches the fawn’s bedding site. The fawn generally leaves its bed and joins the doe. It is audible to humans for only a few meters.

The Mew is used by the fawn when it wants attention, or is given in response to the maternal grunt of the doe.

The Bleat is the fawn version of the bawl, it is given by the fawn when it wants urgent attention, is hungry, or wants care, and may be heard as far as 100 meters by humans.

The Nursing Whine occurs while the fawn is nursing or searching for a nipple.

Mating

The Tending Grunt is a low grunt used by bucks when pursuing an estrus doe. It may consist of a single short grunt, several grunts or a long drawn out grunt. It is probably given to alert other deer of the presence of a dominant in order to keep them away; and to attract does.

The Tending Click is a clicking sound bucks may make when looking for of following estrus does. It sounds like someone slowly running a fingernail across the teeth of a comb. It appears to be a slow, drawn-out version of the Tending Grunt.

The Flehmen Sniff is a low sound produced during the lip curl, when air is inhaled to bring urine in contact with the nose or vomeronasal organ, allowing the buck to determine the breeding readiness of the doe.

Although several call manufacturers, writers and speakers claim there is an Estrus Doe Bleat or Doe Mating Call, no call of this nature was noted in the scientific studies I have read. These people may be referring to the social grunt. Because security is essential to doe survival, does probably do not use a loud call that might alert nearby predators.

The statistics on whitetail vocalizations are based on studies by Dr. Larry Marchinton. The duration of the calls is approximate. The tone of the call usually depends on the deer. Larger deer, especially bucks, tend to make deeper sounds.

Deer Vocalizations

The deer management techniques that we use on our property have changed a lot over the past thirty years in relation with the changing deer herd. Whitetail deer numbers in the entire state of West Virginia have grown considerably and our land has been no exception.

We started shooting does in 1997 after the pictures from our scouting camera revealed that we were overloaded with does. Since then we have shot 22 does and only 7 bucks. Three of these bucks, two 8-points and one 10-point are the three largest antlered bucks that we have taken in the last thirty years. We had noticed that there were larger antlered bucks when the deer population had just started to climb in the eighties and then antler sizes began to decrease as the deer numbers grew too high and we were shooting the young bucks each year.

All of this made us realize that we needed to lower the deer population by shooting does and letting the young bucks grow up.

We are currently doing several different things in an attempt to have a well-balanced, healthier deer herd on our farm. These include:

• Harvesting does.
• Letting young bucks grow up.
• Planting food plots to help boost the nutrition.
• Mineral licks.
• Keep records on the deer harvested and a log of the bucks seen during hunting season.
• Leave an area of sanctuary during the hunting season so that the deer are not pressured.
• Provide a limited amount of shelled corn with automated wildlife feeders.
• On some occasions we also cut down trees to provide browse in the winter and fertilize plants growing along the edges, especially the honeysuckle.

The Results

Since changing our hunting strategies we have noticed some changes for the better. We have seen bucks fighting, which we had seldom seen in past years and bucks have started reacting to calling, particularly grunting. We are finding shed antlers now; sheds are hard to find when they’re just spikes. Also the numbers of bucks as compared to does caught on our scouting camera pictures has increased dramatically. This tells us that our buck to doe ratio is improving.

On the other hand, we still feel that our total deer numbers are too high. The body weights of the deer we are shooting are still low. The body weights of the three does that we shot in 1997 ranged from 65 to 85 pounds while the weights of the four does in 2003 varied from 55 to 82 pounds. Although we are not deer aging experts we do look at tooth wear to determine the approximate age of the deer. We usually look at the lower front teeth. A couple of the does that we’ve shot have had these lower front teeth worn all the way to the gumline.

Record Keeping

I believe that the records that we keep have given us a lot of valuable information. We record every buck that we see during hunting season. We include the date, time, number of points, location, person who saw buck, time, and rack width and characteristics. During the season of 2003 we recorded 87 buck sightings, of course many of these bucks showed up several times. It is neat to look back and see the bucks grow up that we have recorded. The rack characteristics are similar from year to year and allow us to identify many of the deer that we see. Most years I am able to look at this list and figure out an approximate number of different bucks that we have seen.

We have also kept deer harvest data since 1997 and I wish that I had started doing this earlier. This data includes the time, date, number of points, location, hunter, dressed weight, inside antler spread and approximate age. I think that we can tell a lot from the weight data and wish that we had kept track of the weights from the bucks that we had shot several years ago when we first got our scales. The weights of the bucks that we have shot since 1997 have ranged from 72 to 130 pounds. The 72 pound deer was a spike that my 9 year old son shot in 2002. The 130 pound buck was an 8-point that I killed in 2000. I knew that this buck was at least three and one-half years old and most likely a year or two older. I had watched this buck for the two previous years when he was a nice wide 6-point and had found one of his shed antlers in 1998. We also had a few pictures of him from our scouting cameras.

One suggestion that I would have for every deer camp would be to buy a set of scales. They provide a lot of information for the relatively cheap cost.

Whitetail deer management is not difficult, is good for the overall health of your deer herd and a lot of fun.

You can read more about our deer management at my Web site.

Much has been written about deer movement in hunting magazines and I have been intrigued by differences in deer activity over the years myself. We have all been in the woods or maybe just while driving to or from work and noticed large differences in deer activity. You will have some days when you see many deer from your tree stand and other days when, from that same stand at the same time of day, you won’t see a single deer. It is also most obvious when you drive to and from work at similar times each day and see large swings in deer activity. After thinking about these changes in deer activity, reading several articles and my hunting observations over the years I’ve found several situations that effect deer movement.

The Rut

Some would say that the rut causes the demise of more mature bucks than any other factor. There’s no doubt that deer are very active during the rut. It is an exciting time to be in the woods. The woods can explode around you at any time during the rut and at about any time of the day. All deer hunters have stories of seeing bucks on the prowl. One year a spike buck let me take three shots at him. The doe that this buck was following ran right by me. When the buck ran by I got him stopped and he just stared at me. After my first shot missed he moved a few feet and let me miss another shot. When the doe saw that I had missed, she ran him back by me again. I think that she was trying to use me to get rid of him. Fortunately I’ve learned a thing or to about shooting a bow since this episode almost twenty years ago.

Weather

I have noticed that weather conditions and upcoming storms have an effect on deer activity. Warmer than average temperatures during hunting season definitely minimize deer activity. I also have found that wind makes deer very skittish. It seems that wind messes up all of their senses. The wind causes everything in the woods to move confusing their sight as well as both masking and making noise. I would also think that their great sense of smell is also confused as well. I have spent many days out hunting on windy days where I couldn’t hear anything or tell what was or wasn’t moving it’s no wonder that the deer lay low on these days. Deer don’t seem to mind a mild rain, but when the rain is falling heavier I’ve seldom seen a lot of activity.

Changes in the weather definitely cause the deer to move. Most likely it is the change in barometric pressure that triggers deer before large storms arrive. On several occasions I have noticed deer out feeding at odd times of the day in the hours preceding a storm.

The Moon

There have been articles written on the effects of moon phases and moon position on deer activity. I haven’t figured this one out yet but I think that there must be something to it. I have seen increased deer activity on days when I can’t use the rut or weather to explain it. Research has been conducted in an effort to determine the effects of the moon phases in relation to the start of the rut. What I have read of this information seems promising as far as predicting the start of the rut and the intensity of the rut. A few years ago there was some research into the effects of moon positioning, or in other words when the moon was high in the sky, on deer activity. I haven’t seen any further discussions on this theory in the past couple of years. I have to believe that if the oceans tides can be predicted with the moon than we might also expect the animals to be effected as well.

Most of us only have a limited number of days that we can hunt each year and the best that we can do is to take full advantage of this time. If you can plan your hunting time in advance and you want high deer activity you should plan your hunt during the rut or pre-rut when moon prediction gurus say activity will be at the heaviest and pray for the right weather. In the end, the best way to handle changes in deer activity is to be in the woods as much as possible.