Click on Images to Enlarge

CHAPTER 5

Dr. Keith Causey has been a wildlife researcher for more than 20-years at Auburn University. An avid deer hunter, Causey brings new scientific hunting information to the hunting fraternity each year.

DR. KEITH CAUSEY: Basically three elements cause deer to move- fear, sex and food. Once the hunter understands and utilizes these three tools, he more effectively can predict deer movement and determine where and when a deer will show up.

Fear usually plays a role in deer movement when hunter pressure is intense. Sex influences deer movement during the rut. However, every morning throughout the year when a deer wakes up, the first thing he must decide is what he is going to eat for breakfast. Deer usually will eat something almost every day. Therefore a food supply, as it relates to deer, may be the most dependable ingredient for harvest success.

Deer are so widespread across the United States that they have learned to adapt to a broad range of habitat including the prairie grasses of Texas and Kansas, the coniferous forests of the West and New England as well as the southern forests. We know these animals are very tolerant of whatever conditions the environment makes available to them. Because these animals are so adaptable, they can and will eat virtually all the food sources that are available to them.