stash59 wrote:I've noticed clumping from deer of both sexes and all pellet sizes when they are feeding heavily on clover and or alafalfa. But aren't these both just cultivated forbes? So clumping when this isn't occuring. When the main diet is browse. The Doc's theory just makes sense. We can again see all deer exhibiting clumping or even flat out cowpie like diarhea late in winter. If the winter's been overly hard and stressful.
The size thing has to be important. Just compare the size of an average deer pellet to that of an averaged sized elk pellet. The largest bull I ever chased had a huge body, antlers, tracks...., and poops. When compared to other elk. Look at bears. Bigger diameter scat means a bigger bear. Coke can sized bear poop means at least a 7 footer more likely an 8. The 6 foot bear I killed had between half dollar and silver dollar diameter sized scat. Same with wolves and coyotes. The small footed wolves have smaller turds than the larger footed ones. Even cattle. Those really big cowpies are from the largest most mature animals. And an extreme is seen in dogs. Compare a chiuhua's to that of a Great Dane's.
So the biggest deer pellets have to come from the biggest bodied deer. Which are the mature bucks!!!
It is true often enough that I know I can exploit it. Anytime I see and average pellet length of 3/4" or more i start paying attention. When I find pellets that big and I am in swamps or marshes i can normally find buck bedding nearby without too much effort.
Hunters underestimate the importance of droppings. To me a fresh, large average pellet length in droppings is just as important as finding a good rub. We have killed good bucks based on this sign alone- we found it, moved to hunt a nearby bedding area and killed the buck. No tracks, no rubs...
