martin peters wrote:Where I hunt, bigger pellet size means bigger body size. Anything over 3/4" and my mind starts thinking good buck and I start looking for other sign.
I couldn't agree more- I have to admit I took a real step back when I realized that most of our posters here don't believe certain aspects of deer droppings can indicate a mature animal. I'm specifically referring to the "average pellet length" in a pile of typically clumped buck droppings. Maybe its just my hunting areas of the Upper and Lower Peninsula's of Michigan and Ontario, Canada- but there's no doubt in my mind that "normally" the bigger the whitetail body size the longer the average pellet length in a pile of droppings. As always, there are no absolutes in deer hunting- tall and large rubs / wide tracks / long pellet lengths do not "guarantee" a nice buck left them behind.
The question earlier regarding Dr. Nordberg's reasoning for clumped buck droppings refers to his statement that seasonal stress on the bucks... the rut, hormonal shift, hectic to no feeding, tremendous traveling and increased exertion- leads to the clumped droppings.
Just being honest here, if I come across a pile of clumped droppings with an average pellet length over an inch- I WILL be putting in more time trying to locate additional big buck sign and will NOT discard the discovery and move on.
Okay, I feel better now.