The National Deer Association is pleased to announce the premiere of a new educational video project, “How to Identify Antlerless Deer in the Field,” produced in partnership with The Bearded Buck. The 17-minute video uses live footage of wild whitetail deer in order to teach viewers how to separate adult does from younger does and doe fawns from buck fawns. The video includes an 18-deer quiz at the end.
Balancing a deer population with the habitat and available food requires harvesting the appropriate number of does. This may be a lot in some areas, a few in others and none in more isolated cases. Being able to separate the does by age in the field allows hunters to selectively harvest antlerless deer–whether their goal is to harvest more mature does and reduce the deer herd, or harvest younger does and allow the deer herd to grow.
In this new video, NDA Chief Conservation Officer and wildlife biologist Kip Adams shares tips on how to separate adult does from younger does in the field–and even how to identify fawns (deer under 1 year of age) as does or bucks.
The 18-deer quiz at the clip’s conclusion allows viewers to practice what they learned throughout the video. Here, viewers are provided a few seconds to identify wild deer from live footage in the field. After the pause, Kip reveals his analysis of the deer in each of the nine scenarios, with 18 deer being shown in all.
“The ability to separate live antlerless deer into two general age groups – fawns and adults – is obtainable for all hunters with a little knowledge and some practice,” said Adams. “The three key characteristics are body size and shape, head size and shape and animal behavior. This is especially pertinent when you have a group of deer in front of you during hunting season. Estimating the sex and age of live antlerless deer is a great skill for hunters.”
With regard to harvesting antlerless deer, some hunters are concerned about accidentally shooting a fawn, referring to deer less than one year old during the fall hunting season, especially buck fawns. There is nothing wrong with harvesting a fawn, but NDA’s new video helps hunters separate adult does from fawns in the field, and even identify whether those fawns are does or bucks.
“The team at The Bearded Buck gave us full access to their incredible collection of whitetail footage from years of their hunts,” said NDA’s Chief Conservation Officer and host of the video, Kip Adams. “The result is NDA’s most comprehensive and realistic look at how to age deer in the field.”
To view the new video, visit NDA’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/deerassociation, where you can also find the 2022 video on Aging Live Bucks in the Field, also produced in partnership with The Bearded Buck.
The Bearded Buck is an Outdoor Entertainment Company located in Western Pennsylvania. Founder of The Bearded Buck, Jerry Tibbott, is a longtime NDA member and supporter, and he has attained NDA Deer Steward Level 3, the top level. Jerry developed the idea as a practical joke between himself and one of his hunting buddies, but The Bearded Buck has transformed into an outdoor lifestyle brand dedicated to being deer, turkey and land stewards. thebeardedbuck.com.
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