Buck scat

[SNIPERBBB]

Thought we'd talk about Buck scat. Season starts in about a month here.

Went out to a random wildlife area here looking for pawpaws, not really thinking about deer other than trying to find a deer trail through the briar patches.


Found two different spots on a trail that has Buck scat. Which triggered this post.

My philosophy on scouting preseason is usually trying locate food sources that will exist come the time I plan to hunt(or trap), cover and lastly animal sign. Patterns change so much in the upcoming months that I don't get too excited about sign for critters that have habit of moving miles away as the seasons change.

So other than yep the buck is still alive, what do we feel that's useful about Buck scat

 

[Westdesign03]

My first thought might be the bigger around the scat, the bigger and possibly older the deer?

 

[BTaylor]

Just for clarification, cause opinions vary, what are we calling buck poop?

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Just for clarification, cause opinions vary, what are we calling buck poop?

Buck scat larger and more clumped together. Sometimes feed will change the profile.

 

[BTaylor]

Can You Tell Bucks From Does by Their Droppings? Plus Other Deer Dung Data

We can learn much from deer pellets, like information about deer diets, while some things we can’t interpret. Here's what we know.

deerassociation.com

The link is just for a point of reference. The biologist that I worked with for 20+ years always said clumped poop was generally the deer's first poop after being bedded for a while, not an indication of sex. I have mostly looked at it from a size perspective, clumped or not clumped. I generally gauge the pct difference in size of the poop relative the the general difference in size of the local deer. That may be entirely inaccurate but it at least makes sense to me. If a mature buck is 40% bigger than a big mature doe in a particular location, I watch for similar poop size difference.

 

[Swamp Fox__On The Run]

So other than yep the buck is still alive, what do we feel that's useful about Buck scat

First and foremost, it's fun to say.

Not as fun as "turtle turds," but that's because "buck scat" is almost scientific-sounding. Takes a lot of the giggle factor out of it.

Other than that, it sometimes can tell you what they're eating. This is mostly an early season thing, when they might be on either soft mast or browse. Then again, this is mostly only important to those of us who have early seasons.

I used to have a buck poop schedule in my head (from some things I'd read) that gave you an idea how long it took food to pass through the digestive system, and then you were supposed to be able to do some reverse detective work from there about travel distances, timing back to the bed, feeding locations, and AM vs. PM feeding. I never found it too useful, which is probably why it didn't stick in my head.

But .. if you can detect persimmons in a buck's poop and you know where the only persimmons are in your area, then you might be onto something.

BTW, I find "buck poop" much more giggly than 'buck scat" in case anyone wants to develop and post a rating system for deer hunting terminology.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Us trappers prefer scar or droppings or toilets for more habitual poopers

 

[Swamp Fox__On The Run]

Can You Tell Bucks From Does by Their Droppings? Plus Other Deer Dung Data

We can learn much from deer pellets, like information about deer diets, while some things we can’t interpret. Here's what we know.

deerassociation.com

The link is just for a point of reference. The biologist that I worked with for 20+ years always said clumped poop was generally the deer's first poop after being bedded for a while, not an indication of sex. I have mostly looked at it from a size perspective, clumped or not clumped. I generally gauge the pct difference in size of the poop relative the the general difference in size of the local deer. That may be entirely inaccurate but it at least makes sense to me. If a mature buck is 40% bigger than a big mature doe in a particular location, I watch for similar poop size difference.

Thx!

That is new info since I last looked at deer poop "research." There was always some ambiguity and equivocating, but back in the day clumps were said to be more likely from bucks than does.

Once the preferred food switches to hard mast and fibrous browse, though, clumps seem to disappear, at least in my experience.

So I don't know how useful the whole thing is.

(Hole thing?)

 

[Still Kicking]

Deer poop is one of the indicators you are hunting in the right area.

 

[Horn]

I hope this conversation goes somewhere, I'm still an awful green hunter but, I've always suspected there's more to deer poo than just " a deer walked through here" and we can have a decent time frame if it's fresh or fresher.

I managed to lose the only resource I've found useful on the subject. A seemingly older guy that put info out in what I would guess was maybe the early to mid 90'? Based on style and the looks and feel, but I'm from late '86 so count that as throwing the deer scat and seeing what might stick, lol.

A point I do remember is this guy said the size of the raisinette did generally correlate to the deers size. Logs to ,uh, pudding correlate to diet more than anything. And if there's several piles or droppings it is likely a place near preferred food or preferred bedding.

Sorry to rant and be mostly on a tangential subject of general vs buck droppings.

 

[BTaylor]

I hope this conversation goes somewhere, I'm still an awful green hunter but, I've always suspected there's more to deer poo than just " a deer walked through here" and we can have a decent time frame if it's fresh or fresher.

I managed to lose the only resource I've found useful on the subject. A seemingly older guy that put info out in what I would guess was maybe the early to mid 90'? Based on style and the looks and feel, but I'm from late '86 so count that as throwing the deer scat and seeing what might stick, lol.

A point I do remember is this guy said the size of the raisinette did generally correlate to the deers size. Logs to ,uh, pudding correlate to diet more than anything. And if there's several piles or droppings it is likely a place near preferred food or preferred bedding.

Sorry to rant and be mostly on a tangential subject of general vs buck droppings.

In my experience, really fresh will generally be sorta dark olive green and real shiny. They get darker and dry with time. Find a feed tree with multiple piles of the fresh poop and you might want to pick a tree right quick and get in it.

 

[Swamp Fox__On The Run]

A point I do remember is this guy said the size of the raisinette did generally correlate to the deers size. Logs to ,uh, pudding correlate to diet more than anything. And if there's several piles or droppings it is likely a place near preferred food or preferred bedding.

I think you're generally over the target (over the bowl?) but pellet size evaluation would be hard (soft? slippery?) to master. A wet poop is a new poop, but that's about it. Not sure what you can doo with a dry poop.

A lot of same-age poop just means a few deer were there for a while. A bedding and a feeding area should be evident without relying on poop. Recent usage is what you're looking for.

They say a doe poop is maybe 50-60 pellets while a buck's is 70-80 (if memory serves). So while you're counting and trusting the science, that's 15 minutes of your life on your hands and knees you'll never get back, and you could have spent it eating baloney sammiches back at camp or getting paid to bend over at your job.

What're you gonna do if you come up with 65?

Count again?

 

[Slabzilla73]

Big poop, big deer, regardless of sex. Unless a fawn ate a block of cheese.