Groundhogs and Deer

[macmuffy]

Since I'm a plinker and not a hunter I need to know what time are these pests most active throughout the day. In addition to my garden what other type of food do they like?

Side questions;
What is the life cycle of deer antlers? When do they start to grow, how fast? Do they keep them throughout the year?
Do they ever shed them?
Can you tell the age of a deer by antler points?

all answers appreciated.










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[davlandrum]

Mac -

No help on the groundhogs, but

Deer and elk shed their antlers every year. The exact timing has to do with a lot of variables due to the breeding cycle. Warmer weather (down south) the rut (main breeding time) happens later than northern climes.

Generally speaking they drop them early winter.

They start growing new ones in the spring. Antler is supposed to be the fastest growing thing in the world, as it has to go from zero to full blown antlers in such a short time. If you think of the size of a set of antlers on a mature bull elk, that is flat amazing.

As fall approaches, the velvet covering the antler gets shed and rubbed off. This covering feeds the blood to the antlers so they can grow.

To some degree you can tell age by number of points - a spike is usually a 2-year-old, a fork around 3, etc. But there are a lot of variables in this as well: What time of year was it born, did it have good genetics to get more points, etc.

Last year I took a forked horn that was huge. It was with a 3 point (a 6 point back east) that my buddy took. My forked horn was wider, taller and thicker than the antlers of his. I think mine just did not have the genes to make more than a fork.

[Scorch]

I need to know what time are these pests most active throughout the day.

Deer are crepuscular animals, meaning they are typically active at low-light times, early morning and early evening. When pressured, they will become nocturnal. Groundhogs are diurnal animals, meaning they are active during the daytime, but they will typically retreat to holes if they get too hot. Early mornings are a good time to find both.

What is the life cycle of deer antlers? When do they start to grow, how fast? Do they keep them throughout the year?
Do they ever shed them?

Antlers are one of the fastest growing animal tissues. They will grow from nothing to a full rack within a few months, typically about 3 months. While in velvet, they help the deer cool its body. When the velvet sheds, they are used in territorial and mating displays. After the breeding season when they are no longer needed for mating displays, they are shed, typically right around December-January, and then begin growing again about March-April.

Can you tell the age of a deer by antler points?

No. Deer are aged by tooth patterns and wear. Rack size and point count are variable by individual animal, diet, genetics, age, injury, etc. I have seen young of the year with 3 point racks, and 7 year-old bucks with forked antlers.

[davlandrum]

crepuscular

Dang Scorch, you are a walking dictionary!! I have never heard that one before.

Now to work that in to a casual conversation...

[Scorch]

Someone once accused me of using too many 12-letter words. I guess I'm getting better: that one only has 11 letters.

[W. C. Quantrill]

Spikes and forks are signs of weak genetics. In our herds all spikes are killed when first seen. All forks are held in suspicion and if we see them a second year they become coyote food. If you let a spike or fork go, they will breed that trait back into your herd. Ours will die from the environment in the next month if we see any. Then the does will get pregnant by some larger bucks. We have been managing our herd for about 10 years now, and we have more deer, larger bodied deer, and larger racks than before.

[22-rimfire]

Keeping deer out of your garden is nearly an impossible task short of building a high fence to enclose the garden area. Deer tend to be more active during the daytime hours during the summer and they shift to more nocturnal in the fall. You will notice that you won't see as many deer out driving around after September or so.

Groundhogs also reek havoc on gardens. They eat just about everything when the plants are young and tender. They love clover. They choose their diet based on instinctive nurtritional value (it seems) as do deer when they have a choice of foods. Trapping them is effective. Shooting them is more fun if it is safe to do so at your property. Head shots are the order of the day if using a 22 rifle. Groundhogs seem to be the most active just after the dew evaporates off folliage and prior to noon when it normally warms up. Then they are active in the early evening hours until dusk. You could probably fence off the garden to limit their access, but as you know they can burrow.

Rabbits also are very damaging to gardens if their is a population around.

[guntotin_fool]

Actually deer antler size is far more tied to nutrition than to genetics. so culling forks and spikes is less productive than spending a day or two walking the woods spreading fertilizer and mineral blocks. Particularly in monoculture food zones that is, massive wheat and corn or soybean farms. where very little variety is present, providing mineral licks and some sorts of varietal plots for other sources of nutrition to the deer is very helpful.

Modern production farming methods may produce a lot of food, but they do not provide the necessary variety to grow deer big. IF there is alternatives present, to supplement the corn, wheat or soy beans, then you can have MONSTER deer, with racks that make people drool. If those supplements are not there, then just the calories will not be enough.
Penn state and the Penn DCNR have proven this time and time again by splitting adolescent twins and locating one in a properly balanced food zone, and locating the other to a zone with either less variety or a mineral starved area. I believe the High Fence areas they use are in excess of 40 acres for each animal. The difference is night and day. One side has puny basket racks, and the other large trophy racks. Its simple really, growing antlers at the time the body is also prepping itself for winter means an awful lot of stress on the body, proper nutrition makes all the difference in the world. Heres one scientific paper on the subject.http://jas.fass.org/cgi/reprint/47/2/435.pdf

Deer can be kept out of gardens by using human hair spread around, it acts like itching powder in their noses and they hate it.

[Art Eatman]

Y'know, Scorch, my wife has gotten to keeping the house in a sort of low-light conditon. She's not real active, though. If I go to explaining "crepuscular", I probably oughta enunciate rather clearly...

[macmuffy]

Many thanks for the info on the groundhogs and the enlighting info on deer.

Crepuscular what a word. You are never too old to learn new things.

[T. O'Heir]

"...Groundhogs seem to be the most active just after..." Yep. In the summer. Where you are has a lot to do with when ground hogs first come out of hibernation(they're one of the few true hibernators). Up here, in Southern Ontario, Canada, they can be out in the first week of March(Ive shot 'em off snow banks, but not often), depending on the weather. Day time temperatures mostly. Between then and June or July(again depending on temperatures), they'll be out most of a warm sunny day from dawn until dusk. They dislike rain, but will be out briefly on the second consecutive rainy day to eat. Once the temeratures get hot, they'll be out once the dew is off, back underground during the hottest part of the day and out again in the evening. During extremely hot periods, they'll go back into hibernation until things cool off. By the middle of September to the end of the month, they've gone back to bed for the winter.
"...then you can have MONSTER deer..." Yep. Big deer that breed like rabbits. Up there are miles and miles and miles of corn and soy bean fields with some wheat thrown in. There are so many big deer being hit by vehicles the insurance companies are paying millions in damage claims. No natural predators either. Although, we keep hearing about cougars being seen and more black bears(not that they actively hunt deer). Lots of coyotes too. None of which are having the least bit of effect on the deer population.