Better'n a Baker's Dozen of Deer

A few days ago on a morning walk, the sun was pretty bright out, making me think conditions wouldn't be good for using my camera. For about the first half hour, I spotted some deer here and there, but contrasts not good. Happily, a load of deer came into view in shade. Within six minutes, I snagged three separate clips within 500 feet that I thought interesting.

Baker's Dozen
So many deer came into view in my first clip, I wondered how many I recorded. Upon viewing the clip several times, I'm more than 90 percent sure I have 14. My title refers to baker's dozen. I don't believe the term is used much anymore, but I wanted to refresh my recollection of its meaning. From "baker's dozen:"

a group of 13; a dozen plus one: from the former practice among bakers and other tradespeople of giving 13 items to the dozen as a safeguard against penalties for short weights and measures.

One doe, which I feature in the second video segment, caught my eye for smudge-like markings on her flank and shoulder. In the third clip, five deer are prominent. At the very start, however, a faraway sixth one ambles at the extreme right part of the clip. Blink and you miss it!

During viewing and editing, I noticed these deer all had taupe coloration but some were smaller than others. When I "shot" deer earlier in the year, fawns were more tawny and had white spots. More on the spotting later.

Coloration
Taupe and tawny each have 5 letters, starting with "ta". I wanted to clarify the color distinctions.
From "Taupe Color":

intermediate shade between dark brown and gray, which shares similar attributes of both colors. However, taupe does not describe a single color, rather, it is used to describe a vast range of colors from dark tan to brownish gray.

From "tawny":

A color adjective, tawny describes something that is a mix of yellow, orange, and brown colors. … Tawny comes from the Anglo-Norman word, taune, which means tanned.

It turns out that colors change during the year. In viewing some of my videos of deer from earlier in the year, does also look tawny. View deer/fawn segments at "Critter Shootin' Near Mid-June 2019" and "Fawnzies and Deering Does" (from July).

"Whitetail Deer Facts & Trivia, Information & Photos" is loaded with good deer info to begin with. Surprising is that the coat colors change throughout the seasons, like getting dye-jobs year around.

The whitetail's coat will change with the seasons, from reddish brown in the spring and summer when vegetation is growing to grayish brown in the winter. This helps the deer to stay camouflaged all year round. The change in color happens quickly, usually in 1 or 2 weeks.

Fawn Spots
From "More Information: When Do Fawns Lose Their Spots?":

Fawns maintain their white spots for 90 to 120 days after birth; quite useful for their survival. These spots eventually fade away from their body after that time frame. Once gone, a shiny brownish fur replaces it. A thicker coat replaces the previous coat of the fawn as the white spots slowly fade. The purpose of the thicker coat is for them to survive the winter.

Antler Starts
Another feature that piqued my interest with these clips was absence of antlers or forehead nubs. I wondered when male deer started developing them. From "Managing for Age in White-tailed Deer"

Male deer begin growing their first set of antlers at about one year of age. They will grow a new set of antlers yearly. With proper nutrition equal, antlers will get larger each year until about six years of age.

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For more articles about deer, enter "deer" in the search box at the upper left of this window. Or find and click "deer" link at Partial Index of Keywords section (just below Popular Posts section). BTW, additional deer videos are available at my YouTube channel.

2019 New Year's Day Buck

On January 1 about 4:30 PM, I spotted the buck during a neighborhood walk. Those antlers were the biggest I've seen in a residential area. I wondered What kind of deer I recorded? Based on several sources that indicate loads of white-tailed deer in Texas, and confirming concentrations in Central Texas, I'd say he was a white-tail buck. Also, he resembles several pix I've run across in websites. From "What Kind of Deer Are in Texas?":

Two species of deer are native to Texas’s vast and varied countryside: the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and the mule deer (O. heminous). … one of the largest populations of whitetails in the country: close to four million. … White-tailed deer, the most widely distributed and evolutionarily ancient deer in North America, get their common name from the snowy underside of their tails, which they prominently flash when alarmed.

The Texas whitetail (O. v. texanus) occupies the broadest range, found across most of the central and western portions of the state. … Compared to whitetails, mule deer -- named for their outsized ears -- have a much smaller native range in Texas. … According to Texas Parks & Wildlife, the state likely harbors between 150,000 and 250,000 mule deer.

Visit "A QUICK GUIDE TO DIFFERENTIATE MULE DEER FROM WHITE-TAILED DEER" for good content and side-by-side pictures to contrast these two deer types.

"5 Facts About Texas Deer That You May or May Not Know" states that 3.6 million white-tailed deer are in Texas (as of November 2017 publication). Regarding size, "South Texas produces the biggest white-tailed deer, due to the protein in the brush that the deer eat there." (The three white-tail deer in the group picture resemble my neighborhood buck.)

I wondered about antlers. "How Do Deer Antlers Grow?" provided rudimentary info.

Deer antlers are growths of bone that deer and similar animals produce for mating season. Only male deer produce antlers, and few deer keep their antlers for long periods. Contrary to popular belief, the size of the antlers and the number of points do not indicate the age of the deer.

I wondered further: How fast do antlers grow? What happens to shed antlers? More details about the velvety fuzz on antlers?

For a really in-depth read, visit "About Deer Antlers". Interesting factoid—"antler growth is one of the fastest known types of tissue growth in mammals, and a deer’s antlers can grow at a rate of 1/4 inch per day".

From "What Happens to a Male Deer's Antlers in the Winter?"

they eventually drop off sometime between December and March -- not always at the same time -- and are left behind. The skull bleeds and scabs over, healing so the antlers can grow back in the spring. In the meantime, the antlers that he shed are eaten by smaller animals like squirrels, who benefit from whatever calcium remains.

"White-tailed Deer" provides more details about antlers.

antlers are shed each year after breeding season and must be replaced with a new set grown the following year. … Shedding takes place from mid-January to mid-April, but most mature bucks in good physical condition have dropped their antlers by the end of February.

Unlike horns, antlers are solid bone and are grown only by members of the deer family.

For very detailed descriptions of the antler process, accompanied by stunning images of bucks' heads, visit "Whitetail Deer Antler Growth Process". As for velvety antlers:

Most northern bucks will have completed their antler growth by the 10th of August, … For the next 20-25 days the antlers will harden. During this time … the velvet covering the antlers shrinks as the blood flow slows. Sometime in late August through mid-September most bucks will peel the velvet from their antlers.

I thought about additional curiosities about deer, such as speed, odd head noises, and jumping.

"How Fast Does a Whitetail Deer Run?" states "White-tailed deer can sprint at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour."

Have you been close enough to hear deer snort or make other weird head noises? "Bleats to Grunts – Deer Sounds and What They Mean" contains lots of authoritative content and videos.

Wonder about deer jumping capabilities? A company that sells fence kits describes the relationship between deer vision and fence jumping. From "FACTS ABOUT DEER AND FENCES: WHY DEER JUMP":

They have real trouble seeing the fence top. Deer see best in the yellow, deep blue and certain ultraviolet portions of the spectrum, …. In addition, deer have limited depth perception. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads (for wrap-around peripheral vision to spot predators), so their binocular vision is sacrificed and their 3D sense (especially for nearby objects) is weak. Thus, they have difficulty telling where your barely visible deer fence leaves off and the trees or sky begin.

Another company that sells fence parts also describes deer vision and fence jumping. From "How High Does a Deer Fence Need To Be?":

Deer can jump an average of 8’ high, but will not risk the jump if they are uncertain because they have poor vertical vision … both plastic deer fencing and PVC-coated steel hex web mesh deer fence poorly reflect these wavelengths.

For more info about fences and other means to resolve deer problems in your area, the following sites provide suggestions. (The fourth website more emphasizes using plants than fences.)

• "Deer proof gardens: 4 sure-fire ways to keep deer out of your garden"
• "Want to keep the deer out of your garden? Here’s what works."
• "17 Solutions to Keep Deer Off Your Property"
• "Coping with the deer by the use of deer resistant plants."

I myself don't see deer sauntering near my own home, and have very little in the way of a salad bar that attracts deer. The buck was a happy accidental spotting to start my year off.

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For more articles about deer, enter "deer" in the search box at the upper left of this window. Or find and click "deer" link at Partial Index of Keywords section (just below Popular Posts section). BTW, additional deer videos are available at my YouTube channel.