Afield with Bill Marchel: Separating whitetail fact from fiction

Every deer hunter knows that Minnesota's 2015 firearms season will open at a half-hour before sunrise Nov. 7.

Despite the availability of deer and deer-hunting material (books, magazines, television, videos), the secretive lives of whitetails remain largely unobserved by most humans. Ask 10 hunters a specific question about whitetail biology and you're likely to get as many different answers.

Thinking about that, it's not too difficult to understand why.

Numerous deer-hunting "facts" are, in actuality, "tales." Those facts are simply someone's misinterpretation of what they observed, and they espouse that information as truth. Those deer tales are then passed down through generations of hunters, and understood to be gospel.

Let's take a look at a few of those whitetail miscues. Knowing the truth may help you put venison on your table.

Buck rubs on saplings are made when male whitetails attempt to remove velvet from their antlers.

Truth: Although a few rubs found in early September may be a buck removing velvet, most rubs are made between mid-October and early November long after the velvet shed. Removing bark from a sapling and leaving scent from his forehead gland, a buck allows a visual and an olfactory signpost for other deer. What information other bucks and does learn from rubs is not fully understood, but the breeding status of the rub-maker is probably conveyed. That big rubs are usually made by big bucks is foremost in hunters' minds. Few whitetail clues stir a hunter's blood like a fresh rub on a large sapling.

Truth: No way. Tracks showing splayed toes are made by a deer that is running, buck or doe. With practice, a hunter can determine with reasonable accuracy the track of a mature buck. Look for large tracks with rounded, less dainty toes. The hoof print of a large buck is nearly as wide as it is long. Also a large buck's prints will be farther apart both front-to-back and side-to-side of an imaginary centerline.

If you're lucky enough to have tracking snow, the trail of a large buck will show a plowing effect; a lesser deer's will appear more delicate. Experience is the best teacher.

A buck's neck size determines whether the rut is on.

Truth: In fact, the neck of a buck is at its fullest in late October, a week or so before the peak of the breeding season. A spike in hormones swells the necks of bucks, which also build neck and shoulder muscles from mock battles with trees and bushes. This process begins shortly after the bucks shed their velvet in early September. During the summer, bachelor groups of bucks hang out. It is then that basic social status within the herd is largely determined. The more aggressive bucks assume a superior rank, and therefore participate to a much higher degree in the upcoming rut. This is not to say an immature buck that lacks a swollen neck cannot breed. They do, especially in a deer population (such as Minnesota's) skewed greatly toward does and immature animals.

The number of points on either the left or the right antler of a buck determines his age. A spike is 1-year-old, a forkhorn 2, a six-pointer 3, and so on.

The peak of the rut, or primary breeding period, is determined by the breeding condition of bucks.

Truth: Not true. The breeding condition of the does determines the peak of rut. Buck whitetails are capable of breeding as early as late August, but until a doe comes into estrus (usually during the first half of November), all of a buck's efforts will be futile. However, this does not mean that the peak of the rut is the best time to hunt bucks. The time period just before does enter estrus can be the best hunting period. Bucks, sensing the upcoming heat cycles in does, will be traveling more, searching for the first does coming into estrus. This is also the best time to rattle or call bucks.

Have a safe and fun deer-hunting season.