Jump to content

Deer ready to breed December 13th???

First-light

By First-light,
in Deer Hunting

 Share

Recommended Posts

nyantler Apprentice

nyantler

Posted
Posted

It appears I was wrong in my prior post

I found this which may lead to explanation???

For instance, the more hydrated a deer is the less color will be seen in their urine. When a whitetail is dehydrated, or when they are feeding on more acidic food such as acorns, their urine will be much more concentrated and appear orange. I once tracked a buck whose urine was actually purple. Initially, I thought perhaps something was wrong with the animal, but later learned that he was feeding heavily on blue juniper berries.

When deer are on a restricted diet, which is often the case during the breeding stage of the rut, their urine appears very dark, almost red in appearance. To the casual observer it would seem that there is blood mixed in with the urine. The reason for this coloration of urine is the result of the deer’s body metabolizing fat reserves in the absence of food intake. What is critical, especially to a buck, is not the color of a doe’s urine but the pheromones she is emitting during that critical three-day period that she is ready to breed.

 

Looking only at a photo I could be wrong... but from my experience tracking all kinds of deer... this is typical of buck urine this time of year... a buck this time of year is the one with a highly restricted diet due to his concentration on breeding and little else... a doe may forego food for the short time ( couple days at most) that she is in heat, but eats normally the rest of the time and will usually still have food in her stomachs... I have never seen evidence of doe urine being anything but yellow to light orange. I have seen this darker color urine nearly every time I've tracked a buck any distance. Actually I should say not always reddish, I have seen it from a dark amber to almost a brown, but always darker colored than a does, which is usually yellow to a light color orange... and yes, I can tell the difference between a does urine stain and a bucks urine stain based on position in the track.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sampotter Newbie

sampotter

Posted
Posted

You guys Deer Doctors now ?? Or deer OBGYN your specialty ??   :rofl:

 

Pretty close. All I do all day everyday is manage the reproduction on our 1800 cow dairy. My # priority is to get them pregnant so they will have another calf and make more milk. I know more about cow reproduction than a lot of veterinarians. Cows and deer are very similar...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
First-light Grand Master

First-light

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Looking only at a photo I could be wrong... but from my experience tracking all kinds of deer... this is typical of buck urine this time of year... a buck this time of year is the one with a highly restricted diet due to his concentration on breeding and little else... a doe may forego food for the short time ( couple days at most) that she is in heat, but eats normally the rest of the time and will usually still have food in her stomachs... I have never seen evidence of doe urine being anything but yellow to light orange. I have seen this darker color urine nearly every time I've tracked a buck any distance. Actually I should say not always reddish, I have seen it from a dark amber to almost a brown, but always darker colored than a does, which is usually yellow to a light color orange... and yes, I can tell the difference between a does urine stain and a bucks urine stain based on position in the track.

 

Think about it, it was only one spot in a whole bunch of tracks and other pee spots. Buck is the minority in the group. I like Joe's thinking on this. I will send the pict to the DEC office to get their take.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nyantler Apprentice

nyantler

Posted
Posted

Think about it, it was only one spot in a whole bunch of tracks and other pee spots. Buck is the minority in the group. I like Joe's thinking on this. I will send the pict to the DEC office to get their take.

 

The only reason I'm not 100% confident is because I didn't see it personally... there is a .000000000000000000001 % chance that I'm wrong, but I don't think so :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
the blur Rookie

the blur

Posted
Posted

Been devoted to studying the biology and traits of whitetails for nearly 25 years... I may not have the white coat, but confident in my knowledge of this subject.

 

 

OK, we have 2 deer OBGYN on call.    Now I know where to go for deer help.    I hope their is money in that field.   I can see the cow OBGYN making money, but deer, not so sure there is a need.  At least not in NY.    :umnik:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sampotter Newbie

sampotter

Posted
Posted

OK, we have 2 deer OBGYN on call.    Now I know where to go for deer help.    I hope their is money in that field.   I can see the cow OBGYN making money, but deer, not so sure there is a need.  At least not in NY.    :umnik:

 

I prefer Reproduction Specialist

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
nyantler Apprentice

nyantler

Posted
Posted

OK, we have 2 deer OBGYN on call.    Now I know where to go for deer help.    I hope their is money in that field.   I can see the cow OBGYN making money, but deer, not so sure there is a need.  At least not in NY.    :umnik:

 

Ahhh... but many of us thrive on useless information... otherwise who would answer all the useless questions? And . yes the money can be really good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
landtracdeerhunter Proficient

landtracdeerhunter

Posted
Posted (edited)

Breeding cycle is still on here,  is running later than normal.  Should of slowed around the 12th.  Many reports of chasing still in progress. Buck bred a young doe in the neighbors back yard, Friday night. I watched 2 bucks locked down on a doe over on Rt 63 Saturday. A few newspaper reporters here, as well  LOL.

Edited by landtracdeerhunter
Link to comment
Share on other sites
nyantler Apprentice

nyantler

Posted
Posted

Gang,

Just heard back from a NYS Biologist. His words: "I suspect the deer’s urine was stained by something it ate, possibly pokeweed berries."

No mention about breeding, blood or anything else. Just diet!

FL

 

LOL.. I kind of expected as much from the biologist... I have had many conversations with NYS biologists and attend deer forums with biologists present and I am usually surprised at how little they really know about whitetails... yeah they know all the scientific terms and stats... but I have found that they know little about whitetail traits and habits. Trust me.. it is a buck urine stain... I've seen more than my share of them. Think about it... if one deer is eating pokeweed berries in a group, so are the other deer... if it was from pokeweed berries there would be stains all over from all the deer peeing red... But I suppose if I was  biologist that didn't know the answer... I would have used the pokeweed save as well... :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...