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Like others said before, I have heard that if the pellets are loose and smaller then they are usually from does or smaller deer. The stuff that is in big clumps is usually from bucks....but thats just what I have heard.

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ORIGINAL: joshw020

Deer pretty much eat the same thing, no?. . . and they obviously are all ina givenarea (my area, your area etc..) . . . .so why do some "clump", and some don't?? Same area + same diet = ???? If you're telling me that the bucks diet is different than the does, then I'd sure like to know whatthat difference is. In my "area" (aka 6 countiesin Ohio), the deer eat from the same fieilds, under the same trees, browse along the same edges/trails, hell, they even drink from the same water holes :eek:. . . . . . and that's allregardless of sex.Infact, I really can't think of a single species where the males eatsa different kind of food thanthe females[8D]
I'm no biologist, so maybe it's just me. But the idea of same deer herd/different diets seems absolutely ridiculous.

huh?! some ppl eat buffalo wings and get the squirts and some ppl eat the same buffalo wings and drop a solid. think about that for a while

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ORIGINAL: KYDeerHunter03

Like others said before, I have heard that if the pellets are loose and smaller then they are usually from does or smaller deer. The stuff that is in big clumps is usually from bucks....but thats just what I have heard.

three years ago i shot a 9pt that weighed 216 and he had some of the smallest droppings i had ever seen. i obviously knew it was a buck from other tell tale signs he left in the snow but his crap was tiny

I was told the clumps were from the bucks and the pelets were from does.

The first time I took my son with me he saw the poo and said somebody dropped their milkduds on the ground!!!

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ORIGINAL: skybuster20ga

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huh?! some ppl eat buffalo wings and get the squirts and some ppl eat the same buffalo wings and drop a solid. think about that for a while

My point exactly, sky :eek:. . . deer eat the same foods from day 1, 'till their last day. They've pretty eaten the same foods since , well. . . the history of deer. Would you not agree? I'd ay their stomachs are pretty well adjusted to their very simple, very plain diets.They're not like humans. They eat for nutrition/survival, not to satisfy the taste buds ;). Not to say that they wont catch the occasional bug/virus from time to time, but I doubt they'll be mixing in any B-dubs or chinese take-out any time soon.

I agree joshw. Deer don't exactly have the option of eating steak, chicken wings, beer, salad, refried beans, prunes, etc.

Around here it's pretty much the same 3 or 4, maybe even 5 food items.

it was always my understanding the does will leave raisin-ets sprinkled on the ground while a bucks look like raisin-ets that were left in a hot truck all day before being dumped out. Blowing up the toilet so to speak.

exactly il coyote :), I guess what's pretty much common knowledge in OH and ILmight bea mysteryin other parts

taste like chocolate , i think.

Bigger bucks have bigger colons, so they can pack more material into the pipe if you will...This is the reason that there will sometimes be a clump of pellets...Does and small deer have smaller colons, so they usuallydrop individual pellets...I'm not saying that a big buck can't have individual pellets, just if you see the clump that it is more likely a larger buck...

Ever looked at the droppings of a wild turkey...Hens and jakes drop straight dropping, gobblers have a
J-shaped dropping...They all eat the same diet as well...

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Nice theory. Unfortunately not exactly correct. It is true that the bigger the deer, the larger the digestive tract. But even a yearling doe's colon can stretch a significant degree. Also when it comes to full grown males or females, there is no significant difference in the diameter of the colon.

What really amazes me here is that people still believe the old wives tale that bucks produce clumps and does produce pellets despite numerous magazine articles and professional opinions over the last several years stating otherwise.

I am not a whitetail biologist by any means, but I am a veterinarian and I do rehabilitate several deer every year and I can equivocally say without a doubt that the sex of the deer doesn't play any role in the type of stool present.

As others have said, it is all based on the diet, and more specifically the fiber in the diet. Things that are high in fiber which include most plant materials will result in pellets. Things that are low in fiber or high in carbohydrates such as acorns or other mast will result in bulkier stools.