Ask The Biologist

Mythbuster

Mythbuster

By Bob Humphrey

Bob lays to rest another legendary deer camp myth.

QUESTION: In the area I hunt, I usually find two different types of deer droppings. One is the usual piles of pellets; the other is more of a solid mass. I have been told that the pellets are made by does and the large masses are from bucks. My question is, can you tell the sex of a deer by its droppings? — Bruce W.

ANSWER: The short answer is no, even though the old silverbacks in camp might like to convince you otherwise. And it’s awfully tempting to attribute a large mass of deer dung to a big buck. But considerable research has shown that you really can’t tell simply from a pile or mass of pellets.

Without going into too much detail, the physical characteristics of deer scat (size, shape, color and consistency) are more attributable to diet and moisture.

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