Whitetail Deer in Pittsburg
In winter, after the first deep snow, whitetail deer head for their winter home, called a deeryard. A deeryard must have certain characteristics, such as dense softwoods, that are relatively tall to form a canopy that provides shelter from snow, wind and cold. There must also be food close by, such as young softwoods and hardwoods that provide winter browse and they also need water. To help them stay warm deer and moose are the only animals that have hollow guard hairs which provides exceptional insulating qualities. Natural predators and Pittsburg’s severe winters can be devastating to deer, as can the family dog. Keep Fido on a leash in winter. Dogs love to chase deer, which causes undo stress at a critical time. Also, motorists must pay special attention while driving in Pittsburg. Early morning and mid afternoon are times when deer move to feed and often can be seen along or in the roadway, particularly on Route 3, Back Lake Road, River Road and Hall Stream Road.
The whitetail deer is an herbivore or plant eater. The whitetail deer is also a ruminant, which means it has a fourchambered stomach. Each chamber has a different and specific function that allows it to quickly eat a variety of different food, digesting it at a later time in a safe area of cover. Whitetail deer eat large varieties of food, commonly eating new shoots leaves, and grasses. They also eat acorns, fruit, and field corn or any kind of corn. Their special stomach allows them to eat some things that humans cannot, such as mushrooms that are poisonous to humans.
In spring, summer and fall deer will disperse throughout Pittsburg. Adult deer shed their winter coat in spring and have a new reddish coat that will turn grayish brown by fall. The fawns are born around the first week of June. A doe can have up to three fawns. To protect them from predators, a fawn is born without scent and their spotted coat provides camouflage. When a white-tailed deer is alarmed, it may stomp its hooves and snort to warn other deer. It may also "flag" or raise its tail and show its white underside. When a mother deer is running, this white underside can help her fawns follow her.
A deer's home range is usually less the a square mile. Deer collect in family groups of a mother and her fawns. When a doe has no fawns, she is usually solitary. Male bucks may live in groups consisting of three or four individuals, except in mating season, when they are solitary. Males weigh between 150 and 300 pounds and females weigh between 90 and 200 pounds. Whitetails communicate in many different ways including sounds, scent, and marking, as in scrapes and rubs. Fawns release a high pitched squeal, known as a bleat, to call out to their mothers. Does also bleat, as well as grunt. Grunting produces a low, guttural sound that will attract the attention of any other deer in the area. Both does and bucks snort, a sound that often signals danger.
Fall is mating time, called “the rut”. Whitetail bucks loose their antlers in winter. Through the summer, bucks have developed a new set of antlers. that are used for fighting with other bucks to win the privilege of mating with the does. Bobcat or coyote will kill a young deer, but people and dogs are now the deer's main predator. Because there are not many natural predators, deer populations can sometimes grow too large for their environment and deer can starve to death. In rural areas, hunters help control deer populations, but in suburban and urban areas hunting is often not allowed and deer populations can grow out of control.
