It’s trivia night at the local pub and tonight’s theme is white-tailed deer. “Phtt, I got this,” you think. “I’m a deer hunter.” Maybe, but you might want to read on, for what follows could make you better prepared to bring home the game.

White-tailed deer (not whitetail deer) belong to the order Artiodactyla, or even-toed ungulates. The former refers to the two toes on each foot, though the dew claws are actually modified toes. The latter identifies them as animals having hooves, the tracks of which you search for when scouting.

They are in the Cervidae or deer family, which includes deer, elk, moose and caribou. That basically means they sport antlers; at least the males do. In general, those antlers grow larger every year, so only the older, wiser and harder-to-hunt bucks have big antlers. And those antlers are deciduous, falling off each winter like leaves from a tree. Finding them provides important clues to which deer made it through the season and might be around for the next.

Antlers are among the fastest-growing tissue in the animal kingdom. Growth begins almost as soon as the old set drops, though it’s very slow at first. It accelerates in the spring and is complete by late summer. During this period, blood and nutrients are transported through a thin layer of skin called velvet. Toward the end of the growth period, an increase in testosterone prompts antlers to go through a process of mineralization. Circulation ceases, velvet peels off and a buck is adorned with a crown of dead bone.

Deer are also ruminants, a reference to their complex, four-chambered stomach, which consists of the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. This allows them to digest cellulose and other complex carbohydrates from the coarse woody browse that makes up much of their natural diet. Find that food and you’ll find the right place to hunt.

Deer are considered crepuscular, meaning they’re most active at twilight – dawn and dusk. They feed actively during this period, filling up the rumen with as much food as they can. Now you have the right time and place, but you can further hone down the latter.

After feeding, they go off to bed. There, they may regurgitate a cud or ball of food from the rumen where they can further chew and break it down, much like a cow. Deer often bed close to a food source for this step before moving off to a more secluded area later, where food passes through the other three chambers.

Deer are also concentrate selectors as opposed to bulk grazers. Rather than grazing as much of what’s available as they can, they feed on specific plants that are more palatable and nutritious. If you know what they are and where they occur in greatest concentration, you can expect to find more deer there, especially if there’s a bedding area nearby.

Unlike humans, deer communicate more by scent than vocalization. As a side note, body language is also very important to both. Deer just seem to recognize it innately, while we have to read books on it. While we can’t prove it, biologists believe that from a single whiff of urine, a deer can recognize much about the other deer that deposited it, including sex, fitness, and quite possibly individual identity and status within the local population. They can also figure out pretty quickly when there’s a stranger in town, so minimizing your presence through scent control and stealth is important.

Whether in the pub or in the field, the more you know, the more successful you’ll be. Keep learning because you never know when some seemingly trivial piece of information will win the game.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and Registered Maine Guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at: bob@bobhumphrey.com

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