10 Fun Facts About Whitetail Deer Hunting You Should Know

By Ready to Fire News Last updated Sep 23, 2019

Do hearing the words, “whitetail deer” get you excited about hunting season? We bet it does! The season is coming up soon.

As a hunter of this species, we bet you know a few things about how this animal behaves in the wild in order to have a successful hunt. The question today is, how much do you really know about the whitetail deer? Let’s learn some fun facts and oddball things about this popular mammal. One of these facts just might make hunting them much easier.

Fun Fact #10: The whitetail deer is the smallest member of the North American deer family. On the flip side, the moose is the largest type of deer. An adult moose can easily grow to be six feet tall.

Fun Fact #9: The lifespan of the whitetail deer isn’t very long. Most only live up to five years out in nature — perhaps because sharp shooting hunters are adept at nabbing them. Not really though, it’s the fact that whitetail deer have many natural predators, including wolves, black bears, cougars, and even the American alligator loves to chomp on their delicious meat.

Fun Fact #8: A fully grown whitetail deer has 32 teeth. That’s the exact number that most human mouths have. This is probably the most oddball fact on this list!

Fun Fact #7: They are very fast runners. A fully grown deer can go up to speeds of 40 mph. That’s why it’s imperative if you can ambush a deer from a hunting stand — because you certainly aren’t going to catch one running.

Fun Fact #6: Most whitetail bucks have antlers, but in a few rare cases a female whitetail deer will grow her own set of antlers if she has an oddly high level of the male hormone, testosterone.

Fun Fact #5: A whitetail deer has excellent night vision due to the way their eye is structured. That also means their daytime vision isn’t that great.

Fun Fact #4: When a whitetail deer feels that there is danger close by, they make a deep breathing sound called “blowing.” They do this in the effort to warn others like them in their areas of potential predators. Once they make this sound, they are going to dart away very quickly.

Fun Fact #3: They are basically color-blind. That’s the reason safety clothing worn when hunting in orange is going to appear gray in color to a whitetail deer.

Fun Fact #2: The whitetail deer has some odd anatomy. They have four different stomachs, which is why they are able to consume some 600 types of plants, berries, and other vegetation. They can even eat some mushrooms which are poisonous to humans.

Fun Fact #1: The whitetail deer can smell humans very easily with their superior scent glands. That’s why it’s vital on a hunt to be as clean as possible, wear little or no fragrance or deodorant, and watch that your clothing was cleaned in fragrance-free laundry soap.

Have a successful whitetail deer hunting season everyone!