Columbian Black Tailed Deer.

Description:

Deer are common in my region of northern California. The deer here are a subspecies of mule deer known as black-tailed deer. They come out around dusk and dawn to feed in the edge areas, the transitions between forest and field. They may be active at mid-day as well. Deer are also commonly seen feeding in fruit orchards. In North America, there are several species of deer, including the white-tailed deer, also called whitetail, and the mule deer, also called "muley." The blacktail is found on the Pacific coast. Deer tracks are some of the most common tracks found. The reason for this is that deer tracks have sharp edges and stand out from the rest of the tracks found in the wild, which have softer edges. Most of the animals that live in deer habitat have soft pads on their feet. Deer, and other members of the deer family, such as elk, moose, pronghorn, and caribou, have hooves, which leave deeper prints due to the hard nature of hoof material. Deer leave signs other than tracks as well. You will often find their scats and feeding signs. They are herbivores and eat only vegetation, so the feeding signs last a long time. Some folks claim that you can tell the buck tracks from the doe tracks due to the presence of dewclaw imprints. (See photos below.) However, both bucks and does have dewclaws. During the rutting season, the bucks tend to follow does with their heads down, a posture which can lead to more dewclaw marks on the ground. However, this is not a perfectly reliable, year-round clue that will tell you if you are tracking a buck or doe. Trackers use other clues on the trail to determine if the tracks they are following are those of a buck or a doe.