When thereвЂ™s snow on the ground it becomes much easier to find bedding sites. If there is no snow look for matted down grass or leaves in a circular shape. These are areas where the deer bed down, rest, and sleep. One last tip: if you see a lot of scat in one area look for signs of deer bedding sites. Although, IвЂ™ve heard that if you plant them you can grow the seeds that are in the scat and see what the deer ate. The uniform pellet shape is due to the formation of the colon and rectum of deer.Дeer scat doesnвЂ™t tell you much about what the deer have been eating. Moose scat is much larger, often browner, and forms larger piles. Rabbit scat is smaller than deer, and usually there are only two or three pellets(see photo below). Sheep and goat poop looks very similar to deer scat. They also donвЂ™t have much of an odor.Д«e careful if youвЂ™re tracking deer anywhere near a farm. The pellets are actually quite firm with a low moisture content. Unlike when you step in dog poop, deer scat is not mushy and wonвЂ™t stick to your shoe. Occasionally they clump together into fist sized globs. As they age they become dull and start to disintegrate. They are round/oval shaped, smooth, and dark brownish/black. Each pellet is relatively uniform in size and shape. I liken deer scat to a pile of raisinets (chocolate covered raison candies, sorry to ruin them for you!). Because deer are such efficient digesters, there really isnвЂ™t much left to defecate (this is true for most wild animals, humans and domestic animals produce much more waste material from the food we ingest). People and dogs are not ruminants, which is why we cannot eat grass. This allows these animals to digest and extract nutrients from relatively nutrient poor indigestible plant matter. White-tailed deer are ruminants, like cows or goats, meaning they have multiple digestive chambers. The coolest scat is that of carnivores such as coyote and fisher, but thatвЂ™s the subject of a future post. Unfortunately the scat of browsers (animals that eat plants), such as deer, moose, and rabbits is not the most interesting. Scat not only tells you which animal has been where, it also tells you what they ate. But every good naturalist knows that animal poop, known as scat, is fun and interesting. I know that most people think poop is gross.

Deer scat