wholelottagobble

I watched a segment in which Dr. James Kroll laid to rest the idea of telling a deer's sex by droppings. He said it is basically impossible to do. Clumped droppings means the deer has recently stood up from sitting/laying down. Seperated pellets just means the animal has been on its feet for a while.

KickerPoint79

Sounds like a special episode of Primos.Anyway I agree with
that logic.

callemin

That is exactly the way I understand it also.

BowHuntingFool

I always wondered about that! I heard all kinds if "stories" Behind it though! Now I know! Thanks!

TimberCreek

Let me add that flat droppings means you need to check the bottom of your shoes!

bigbulls

The droppings themselves don't tell you a thing about the sex of the animal.

How those droppings and urine is distributed can give you a good idea about the sex of an animal.

Scattered droppings and urine indicates a male and a single pile of droppings or a single puddle of urine indicates a female. This is not entirely 100% but it is a good indicator.

HAZCON7

Look for red tinted urine in the snow. This comes from a doe in estrus.

JNTURK

not sure if i can believe that completely....i agree that deer can poop both clumps and pellets...but i don't think it has to do with them lying down or standing up...if you think about it logically...the end of the intestene where the poop is put all together once all the nutrients have been taken from it is located in the back part of the deer..this section is completley sourounded by ribs, and the hind quarters..so when a deer lays down..ther is no reall clumping of the intestene to cause this clump effect because all of the presure is on the hind quarters...the hole purpose of having a body cavity is to protect its vitals and for a deer that also includes its intestene..not a doctor just can't see how laying down could cause clumps or not....

dick_cress

I use the droppings that I find to time the animal that dropped them.
1. Warm to the back of your hand -less than an hour old.
2. Cold but still looks wet - Within 5 hours.
3. Cold and hard but still moist inside - 6 to 24 hours.
4.Cold and hard but still dark color - 1 to 3 days
5. Gray, crumbles to the touch - at least 4 days

As for the clumping, I have always believed that as the animals transition from grazing to browsing there is more moisture in theirfecal mattercavity and therefore clump together and after grazing for a period their browse in much dryer andclumping ends. As an example, during the spring and summer months, sheepherders graze large numbers of sheep in high mountain meadows (rich in lush green grass) of ourarea so I wanted to know more about their droppings (incidentally they look exactly like clumped deer pellets) so I met with a local sheepherder and expert on sheep. Their droppings willalways be clumped. Sheep simply DO NOT LIKE WATER and will RARELY drink it; they graze and move all day long and can cover five miles or more in a day and the only moisture they get is in their grazing. Their droppings are much drier and harder than deer or elk and dry quicker due to limited moisture. They quickly dryHARD and DARK in one to two days or less and generally remain clumped but very dry hard and dark and extremely hard to break apart.

So after my day of being with the sheepherder I am more convinced than ever that this occursfrom the change from grazing to browsing. Additionally, I have also observed similar changes in early Spring as they transition from browsing to grazing. I have also noted that Mountain Goat and Pronghorn are similar to sheep but not always clumped like domestic sheep.

Just my two cents worth.

PSENJersey

I'm not gonna be walking around picking up deer crap. There are more effecient ways to scout then being a fecal expert.