Over the last several years I have learned that as the seasons change so do the patterns of the animals. The daily life of a deer can drastically change within as little as a couple weeks. Today I will be looking at how deer respond to their environment during the January and February months. The interesting part about Iowa winters is that sometimes we have very cold stretches with lots of snow or we can have stretches of very mild weather. Deer act completely different in these two separate scenarios. In extreme cold the deer spend their time eating in the morning and afternoon and bedding down at all other times to conserve energy. If the snow gets deeper than 18 inches the deer have a lot of troubles moving. Because of their sharp hooves the deer sink in the snow with every step causing them to move as little as possible when deep snow occurs. January and February is the least active time of the year for deer. Due to the extreme activity during the rut in late fall and early winter, the deer are only attempting to gain back their stores of fat through constant caloric intake in these cold months. Here in Iowa the hunting seasons ends after the tenth of January which allows the deer to become much more relaxed around human presence. Also, the deer's metabolism rates are lowered significantly meaning far less activity from the deer. After the rut the levels of testosterone decrease which results in the bucks' antlers falling off usually in January or February. Because deer are really only worried about finding food, most of the deer will be very tolerant of each other and so there is a great chance that herds of deer will gather in the same area. For a whitetail deer these first two months of the year are simply a time for survival.
With this understanding I will be able to think like a deer in the field. I can predict their daily movements easier and gain more knowledge as to why these animals are acting the way they are. This research also helps me to begin to see the larger puzzle on how the environment that I am studying works together. Understanding the behavior of whitetails in the winter months is just a very small piece of a much larger picture that I hope to comprehend at the end of this course.
Way of the Whitetail Dr. Rue III
Interesting blog, Ben. The way you write, describing your observations referencing the senses (sight, feel, sound, smell, taste), makes it seem like I'm tagging along on the trip. The photo's, of course, are great; especially when you are able to capture such close shots of your subjects. I can think of a number of ways these skills can contribute to your future. Keep workin' it!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are able to make it out this week to those same spots where you saw the deer. You would be able to observe first hand the effects that the deep snow has on them. Be careful with this weather too!
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