Dr. Karl Miller and other researchers at the University of Georgia did a study on the whitetail’s vision and confirmed 2 things: 1) a deer’s eyes are well adapted to detect even the slightest movement; and 2) to get a good 3-D look at a strange and stationary object that might present danger (like you standing in the woods or looking like a blob in a tree stand) a deer has to shift its head from side to side and bob it up and down and stare at it from several different angles. What it means as you're hunting: When a doe or buck looks your way, picks you out as a potential predator, and then starts the head ducking and bobbing, freeze. [...]

Hi Mike: I was told that you may be able to help identify the problem with this doe who keeps hanging around our apartment complex. She is very tiny, but there is obviously something wrong with her face - she has large lumps up and down her nose up to her eyes. I've attached a photo. We've named her Crystal as she made it through the harsh winter - we're in the Finger Lakes Region of central New York. She will come right up to us and seems very curious about people. She will sit and stare at us while we are outside. She comes within about two feet of me whenever I head outdoors. The local herd of deer [...]

Mike: One day last fall I swear I saw a doe with a small set of fork-horn antlers, but I didn’t shoot. Have you ever seen a doe with antlers?—Steve from MO Steve, no I have never seen one in the wild, though I’ve posted a few on the blog. According to VA biologists, there are two types of antlered whitetail does. The first is a female deer with velvet-covered antlers like this one.  This animal usually has a normal female reproductive tract and is capable of bearing fawns. The second type is a female deer with polished antlers. This animal is actually a male “pseudo-hermaphrodite.” It has the external genitalia of a female, but has male sex organs internally. [...]