Deer Poop?

[dan]

Too much cheese can make you struggle more, Dan...

Eat more cheese Sam...

[tim]

also has to do with hydration. + what they are eating just like anything else.

[gjs4]

I disagree

pellet size does correlate to deer size, and those clumps are from a buck with increased testosterone (most of the time)

Two great resources on this are Ken Nordberg and Tony Lapratt, they have me a believer

[lungbuster]

pellet size does correlate to deer size, and those clumps are from a buck with increased testosterone (most of the time)

Why would increased testosterone cause clumping? I don't buy it, turd size might indicate a bigger deer but consistancy has to have more to do with what they are eating rather than determining sex. I have seen alot more clumpy looking crap in the springtime than the fall, bucks should have much less testosterone then.

[hotterthantiffany]

are we seriously talking about this? Big hands Big.... um feet?

[dan]

I would like to see a scientific study on this subject... I would like to know where Tony and Ken got there info. I believe you may be able to say "very large" is from 2 1/2 on up... Maybe.
But to think you can age deer by poop size? I really have my doubts.
Also, testosterone should be at its highest level in 2 year old bucks. Thats when they do most of there breeding. I am pretty sure the levels go down with mature bucks as they get older just like people.

Hotterthantiffany, I just want you to know I have GIGANTIC hands

[Bucky]

No different than a human....
sometimes you rock the office other times its a struggle for pellet.

Hilarious!!

[RaisedByWolves]

looks like we need to take a field trip to the deer farm!

[gjs4]

Cant say where TL had his info but he had a board made up with different diameter clumps, and different length pellets. KN seemed to be like a deer whisperer or the whitetail equivelant of one of those whackos that lived (and eventually gets eaten by)bears in Alaska.

The testosterone comment was nothing more than when their levels increase their turds clump. Maybe higher levels create more binding? (Note sure)


I know we smoke a good buck in OH last yr by setting up on his staging area...the tip off? The turds

[hunt n nut]

Used to assume bigger poop from bigger deer, now I don't know

Seems I've heard before when bear scouting, bigger scat...bigger bear. Soooooo, are different animals different when it comes to this?

[gjs4]

I want to make a joke about bucks on the east coast of Mass. but not sure how appropriate that is......they must have a community of geriatric deer in those parts

[Singing Bridge]

I try not to get too hung up with individual types of deer sign... but when I scout hard and find tall and large rubs, extra large tracks and droppings with a pellet length average over an inch (and clumped)- I start paying close attention.

[martin peters]

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. Though the biggest antlers are not always sitting on top of the largest bodied deer I'm drawn to hunt big rubs, big tracks, big beds, and yes.... big poop. In early Sept. of 2009 I set a stand on the North side of a East/West finger of swamp only because of the three piles of almost 1"long pellet clumped deer poop I found there. I had hunted two other stands the two previous days when I moved into this stand on Oct. 18th. Approx. an hour before dark a one teens 8 point walked too close to my stand. I had no other scouting in this area that year but knew of a funnel 1/4 mile to the S.E. and figured the buck was making a swing through this swamp and staging prior to heading up into the hardwoods.

[Singing Bridge]

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.