Strategies for Whitetails

Introduction

They say that if you live long enough you’ll see about everything. Well, I may not have seen everything there is to know about whitetail hunting, but I’ve witnessed much over the last 40 years. The journey has been amazing.

When I began carrying a gun to the deer woods in 1964, whitetail hunting was much different from today. Back then only the most serious deer hunters in our area of western New York State had sights on their shotguns – most simply had their favorite bird gun double as their deer slayer. Nor did anyone I knew wear special deer hunting clothing back then – their farm clothes were what they wore to hunt deer. The more they reeked of farm smells the better they thought they were.

Deer hunting strategies such as hunting rub lines, scrape lines or using deer calls were unheard of. Yes, the deer hunting world I grew up in was night and day removed from today—except for one thing. The animal.

Today’s whitetail is the same as the whitetail of the last 100 years. It’s still just as elusive, just as challenging, and perhaps a bit smarter. The only thing that has changed when it comes to deer hunting is the bells and whistles we use to help outsmart them.

Last fall I began hunting whitetails in mid-October and didn’t stop until the eve of Christmas. Consequently, I had a lot of time to think. Much of what I thought about was what the whitetail has brought to my life. I hate to think what my life would have been like without the white-tailed deer. This animal not only introduced me to nature but provided me with a profession. My childhood fire was lit by the graceful figure of a mature buck running across a plowed field on our farm. That fire has kept me heading back to the woods for nearly 45 years.

Over the years I’ve gone through a process of sorts in my relationship with the whitetail. When I was a young boy, all I ever wanted to do was be able to see deer. Then, during my teen-age years, the thrill of hunting whitetails was a big part of my life. As I progressed from being a young man to middle-aged my view of the whitetail became more complex. By the time I reached 40 the thrill of the hunt took on a new dimension as the desire to know all I could about whitetails became the centerpiece of my hunting experience.

Even though I’ve passed the half century point in my life I still love to hunt whitetails. But the challenge of the hunt has been surpassed by the desire to understand all aspects of the whitetail, from their behavior to how to better manage them.

In your hands you hold a book that took about four months to birth, from writing to selecting the photos. However, I can assure you that what is sandwiched between these covers has been fifty years in the making. This is a story about my journey with the white-tailed deer: how I hunt them, photograph them, manage them and love them. What you are about to read and view has been gleaned from my experiences in the woods, both as a hunter and photographer. My whitetail journey was birthed on a northeastern potato farm. Along the way I spread my wings to pursue whitetails from Nova Scotia to Florida to Texas to Idaho to Saskatchewan and points in between. It’s been an incredible journey.

During my lifetime I’ve spent hundreds of hours huddled behind a camera and sitting in deer stands. From these experiences I’ve come to realize how much we’ve learned about this great animal. At the same time I’m struck by how little we know. In the text that follows I hope to shed some light on the many mysteries of the white-tailed deer.

You are about to enter the world of what I consider to be the greatest game animal roaming North America. Enjoy your journey.

Charles Alsheimer

October 29, 2005

The

Animal

CHAPTERS ONE • TWO • THREE • FOUR

 1 

Nature’s Superstar

I’ve had a storied career as a nature photographer and outdoor writer. My travels with camera have taken me from Australia’s outback to the wilds of Alaska and points in between. During this journey I’ve filmed a vast array of wildlife, from kangaroos to grizzlies.

When it comes to wild animals there is friendly debate as to which animal ranks as North America’s most athletic. Some argue that squirrels, big cats or mountain sheep are the best all-around when it comes to athleticism. Others say antelope, bears, or birds of prey top the list.

There is no question that some animals can run faster, jump farther and see better than white-tailed deer. However, after pursuing most of North America’s big game animals with camera I’ve yet to find one that can offer the whole physical package like white-tailed deer. Few animals can live with man and beast and still survive. The whitetail can. In short it can outmaneuver, outjump, outrun and outsurvive anything walking the continent –including man.

When whitetails want to they can run up to 40 miles per hour.

Few animals are as graceful as a whitetail. They are the ultimate gymnast.

Speed Demon

You don’t have to spend much time around whitetails to know they have speed to burn. There may be a few animals in North America that can outrun a whitetail, but when it comes to putting the pedal to the metal or turning on a dime, the whitetail has few peers.

On more than one occasion I’ve been able to monitor a deer running in the open alongside an automobile. The top speed I’ve witnessed was slightly over 40 miles per hour. This is pretty impressive considering the world’s fastest human barely tops 20 mph. Of course a whitetail really shines in an obstacle-strewn forest, where deadfalls, thick brush and other natural hazards are the norm. Certainly topography and natural conditions dictate a deer’s speed in each situation, but it’s safe to say that a mature whitetail can easily run 25 mph in a forest setting.

The consensus among experts is that whitetails are more sprinters than marathon runners. I’d have to agree with this assessment though I have seen whitetails run up to a mile before stopping.

Scale Tall Buildings?

Over the years I’ve heard all kinds of statements concerning how high a whitetail can jump. Some say a deer can clear a seven-foot-high fence from a standing position. Others say it can easily clear an eight- to 10-foot high fence if it has a running start.

During the last 25 years of observing and raising whitetails up close and personal I have to admit that I’ve never seen one clear an eight-foot high fence. I have seen many that have tried, but none made it. My guess is that the right deer under the right conditions may be able to clear an eight-foot fence, but I’ve never seen it done. In every case where I’ve seen a buck or doe try to leap a high fence they’ve hit it between 6-1/2 and 7-1/2 feet high.

Whether they can clear eight-, nine- or 10-foot-high fences is immaterial. What impresses me most about the whitetail’s jumping ability is that it stands only 36 to 42 inches high at the shoulders but is capable of catapulting its body over obstacles more than twice its height. That’s impressive! By comparison, Olympic high jumpers cannot clear an eight-foot-high bar and most are well over six feet tall.

In my mind a whitetail’s horizontal jumping prowess surpasses its ability to clear high fences. A deer’s ability to chew up yards of ground with each bound is legendary. During the rut two years ago I photographed an incredible breeding-party sequence (see Chapter 4). An estrous doe was being pursued by a dominant buck and several lesser-racked bucks. In one exchange the dominant buck chased an intruding subordinate buck. With the dominant buck bearing down on him the subordinate buck turned on a dime and ran for his life. Unfortunately a four-foot-high cattle fence stood in his way.

When conditions are right a whitetail can easily clear a seven-foot-high fence.

At full throttle the subordinate buck cleared the fence in one fluid motion. As impressive as this was, the amount of ground the airborne buck covered was even more incredible. When things calmed I measured the distance the jumping buck had flown through the air. It was just shy of 30 feet. I’ve seen a lot of running, jumping and bounding from whitetails in my life but nothing like that scene. It’s something I’ll never forget.

Any apple within seven feet of the ground is ripe for picking by whitetails.

Heavyweight Contenders

When confronted, whitetails will nearly always attempt to outrun their enemy, be it man or beast. However, there are times when they will choose to stand their ground and confront their opponent. Simply put, they can dodge and weave or stand their ground and duke it out with the best of them. Even the biggest buck has cat-like reflexes that allow him to elude slashing antler tines.

Of course there are times when attitude bucks opt to brawl rather than slash and jab when confronted by an adversary. During these confrontations fighting can resemble Greco-Roman wrestling matches, where opponents try to outmuscle each other by pushing and trying to throw each other to the ground. During these skirmishes it’s usually a given buck’s gift of strength, balance and leverage that wins the day.

Ultimate Survival Machine

In nature there are no gold medals for achievement. An animal’s ultimate award is its ability to survive to see another sunrise. For this to happen, whitetails must utilize all of their physical and sensual abilities. Every ability, be it running, jumping, seeing, hearing or smelling, must work together for a whitetail to elude danger. When it comes to surviving, very few animals on planet Earth can stack up to a whitetail. Its speed and jumping ability are legendary, but few outside the hunting fraternity know of its fine-tuned senses.

Sense of smell: One doesn’t have to be around whitetails long to realize that they survive more often than not because of their ability to sniff out danger. Of all their senses their sense of smell is the one that impresses me most. Speculation has it that deer can smell anywhere from a hundred to a thousand times better than man. We will probably never know the real number for sure. However, what all deer enthusiasts do know is that a whitetail’s sense of smell is remarkable.

With a running start a whitetail can easily clear a 25-foot-wide stream.

During the rut, when the wind blows from the south, our research bucks will pace along the facility’s south fence line, scenting does on the nearby hillside, which is 425 yards away.

By way of example, my whitetail research facility’s south fence line is 425 yards from the nearest woods. During the rut, when there is a wind out of the south, my bucks pace the south fence, staring across open space toward the woods where wild deer are bedded. As they stand statuesque they often sniff and test the wind coming from the woods’ direction. This reveals two things: they can smell other deer at least 425 yards away and bucks can sift through all kinds of odors to pick up the smell of an estrous doe. That’s impressive!

Whitetail bucks are among the most aggressive fighters in the animal kingdom. Their agility, strength and fighting ability are showcased when a fight breaks out between two mature bucks.

When irritated, dominant does will attack a mature buck.

Eyesight: Whitetails may not possess the eyes of birds of prey, but you should never assume they cannot see as well as humans. Research done at the University of Georgia has shown that deer don’t have the same optic cellular structure as people but they certainly have the rod/cone cell makeup to suggest they can see certain colors. Specifically, blue and yellow colors can most likely be seen by deer. Because deer see very well into the blue wavelength of light, they are able to see extremely well in dim light. So their nighttime vision is very good, equipping them with the ability to survive predation any time of the day or night.

Hearing: Though a whitetail’s hearing ability doesn’t get as much attention as its ability to smell, it should. Time and time again, I’ve witnessed the whitetail’s unbelievable hearing. It’s been my experience that deer’s ability to hear far exceeds that of a human.

This is better understood through the writings of noted whitetail expert Leonard Lee Rue III, who summarizes the whitetail’s ability to hear as follows: "The auditory canal openings in deer and humans are the same size, about one-third inch in diameter, but a deer’s much larger ear allows more sound waves to be picked up and funneled into the ear opening.

Another advantage that deer have is that their range of hearing is much wider than humans’. Most human adults can hear frequencies in the range of 40 to 16,000 cycles per second. Deer can hear frequencies as high as 30,000 cycles and perhaps beyond. I often use a ‘silent’ dog whistle while doing photography, to get a deer’s attention and cause it to look at me alertly. These devices have been machine tested to 30,000 cycles, and although humans can’t hear them, dogs and deer respond readily.

When you put together all the physical attributes a whitetail possesses, is it any wonder that they can survive unlike few animals on earth? They are incredible creatures and in spite of the many advances in hunting technology over the last 20 years, man is still at a disadvantage when it comes to outsmarting a whitetail.

Whitetails wherever they are found are the real deal, ultimate survivors. Their athleticism and physical attributes have allowed them to outmaneuver and outsmart the cagiest creatures for centuries, and this will no doubt be the case until the end of time. As you will see in the coming chapters, they truly are nature’s superstar.

Talk about being double-jointed! This buck effortlessly grooms his flank.

 2 

Lovers and Fighters

I’d been perched high in a hemlock tree since dawn, waiting patiently at an intersection of two well-used runways. Action was slow. Rather than being entertained by buck activity, my entertainment was fluttering chickadees and scampering gray squirrels. In spite of the inaction, I was committed to sticking it out as long as I could. The rubs and scrapes in the vicinity of my stand told me this is where the action is.

Two hours into my vigil, chickadees and squirrels were interrupted by what sounded like deer running in the creek below. The 100 yards that separated me from the water made it hard to know exactly what was going on but I suspected that a rutting buck was chasing a hot doe. For the next 20 minutes I strained to see what was making all the noise.

The sounds of grunts and branches breaking were getting louder, but the forest was so thick that I couldn’t see the deer. Quickly I removed my bow from its rest and prepared for action.

Within minutes of birth a fawn will begin to explore its surroundings. At birth a fawn weighs six to nine pounds.

A doe exploded up the trail and stopped 20 yards away in a thick blowdown. She was panting heavily and looking back over her shoulder. It was obvious a buck was hounding her. Within seconds I heard three short grunts, and then the buck came into view. The heavy racked eight-pointer was soaking wet from running in the creek. Unfortunately, before he got to one of my shooting lanes he veered off the trail, circling the doe as she stared intently at him.

I was so focused on the buck and doe that I didn’t realize another deer was close by. With the buck and doe in a standoff I heard a branch break behind me. Fearing the buck and doe would spot me, I tried to remain motionless. With each passing second the suspense built. Finally it was too much to bear. Slowly I turned my head to look behind me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Not 20 yards away a second big buck stood statuesque. He was looking right past me at the big eight-pointer and doe.

For the next minute