elizebeth

Can you tell the difference between a "buck" track and a "doe" track? I would love to hear everyones experiences and beliefs on this subject. Is there proof or is it just a myth?

kevin1

The size, width, and placement of it can give clues, but not really conclusive proof. Does tend to have smaller, narrower hooves and walk in their own tracks, bucks tend to have larger, wider hooves and straddle their tracks because of their wider shoulders.

Edcyclopedia

T.R. Wife or daughter???

bryant1

Sometimes you can, but it's never a guarantee. Larger buck tracksare easier to spot, as they tend to be heavier and wider, with a greater stride. They sometimeshave irregular-shaped hoofs fromscraping also. When we look for tracks early before daylight while running dogs these are some of the clues we look for. I knowa few olderhunters thathave around 90% accuracy spotting buck tracks. Put a couple of dogs on the track, they cold trail it, jump him, and a buck comes out. The 8-point I took last year during rifle season was found by one of these older guys and they knew it was a buck track.

timbercruiser

Sometimes, but not on younger bucks.

Bernie P.

To a point yes.Big older bucks tend to drag their hooves which blunts/rounds off the tips.

crokit

I'd say quite often you can tell, especially on a mature buck, particularly if the track is observed for a short distance.

Mojotex

One of the mis-speaks I hear all of the time down here is that tracks with "dew claw" prints showing are only made bybucks.This is not true of course. I think what is being mistaken is that heavier deer willtypically leave a deeper inprint. Typically fairly maturebucks here in Alabama where I hunt will out weight does50-75 pounds.The "dew claws" are more often clearly impressed into thegound by the heavier deer ... which is an obvious conclusion.And muddy conditionswill lead to practically all deer tracks showing "dew claws", buck or doe ... large or tiny.