Getting a Good Night’s (or Day’s) Sleep

All animals need to sleep, but the evidence of sleeping creatures can be hard to find. There is, however, one animal whose beds are often more visible–deer. And there are details in deer beds that can make for some interesting insights.

Deer beds are oblong or oval and measure between 25 and 45 inches in length. Mature bucks make beds covering the upper part of the range, while does and yearlings generally fall toward the lower end. But beware: there may be outliers in both sexes. The oval shaped form shown in the photo below was made when the body of a sleeping deer melted the light dusting of snow and compressed the leaves.

But the shape in the photo above isn’t a perfect oval. About half of the outline is evenly curved (the part in the upper left quadrant of the photo), and the remaining part (in the lower and right-hand area of the photo) is more irregular. This is because deer curl up when they sleep–the back is curved, the legs are drawn together, and the head is tucked back along the body. This creates two kinds of outlines: a smooth curve where the back is and a more broken outline where the legs and head lie. The sleeping fawn shown in the photo below (positioned similarly to the way the deer would have been in the photo above) is a perfect example.

Even without snow to emphasize the outline, the position of the animal can often be determined. In the photo below the dried and compressed leaves that were underneath the deer’s body reveal the oval shape. The orientation is similar to the bed and the fawn in the photos above, and the back of the deer formed the smooth curve in the upper left quadrant. In the upper right part of the photo the leaves are drier but not pressed down–perhaps the deer shifted its head occasionally as it slept. The uneven boundary at the lower right was made by the tucked legs.

Both of the beds in the preceding photos were on forested slopes with little understory growth. This, combined with their location near feeding areas, suggests that they were night beds, convenient for episodes of feeding but with good escape routes should danger threaten. Day beds are more likely to be in areas with thick cover. and may or may not be near feeding areas. The animals usually bed down for most of the daylight hours, and day beds may or may not be near feeding areas.

If an animal shifts its position while it rests or a bed is used more than once, the bed may not be oval. Two beds can be seen in the tall grass shown in the next photo. The compressed area in the foreground was used repeatedly and possibly even by more than one deer. It’s about twice the size of a normal bed, and its shape is anything but oval. The same is true for the bed in the background (in the upper right of the photo). These were probably day beds, because they weren’t close to areas normally used by people and the tall, weedy growth provided excellent cover.

Of course, the best recording medium for deer beds is snow. In the photo below the deer’s orientation was the same as in the bed shown above, and the curve of the back is evident in the upper left quadrant. The outline isn’t complete because it was disturbed by deer and dog tracks where the upper back and neck would have been. The interior of the bed is mostly a concave hollow–this is where the animal’s back and side rested on the snow. The deer’s hocks and lower legs formed a trough in the lower center of the photo, and its knees dug into the snow toward the upper right. If you were at the scene and were able to feel the concave area, you would find that the surface was hard and icy. This is because the snow is first melted and compressed by the warmth and weight of the deer’s body, and then refrozen after the animal stands up and cold air hits the bed. As the animal rises it often steps in the still soft interior of the bed, leaving what’s called a stand-up track. There’s a nice one just to the left of the hock impression.

I’ll end this post with an interesting story. I live near the edge of a small village, and deer often walk through my side yard, heading toward the village center in the evening to feed and back out toward the surrounding fields and woodlots in the morning to bed down for the day. One morning a few months ago, I watched a deer walk through my side yard in the opposite direction from normal, toward the interior of the village. I was intrigued, so later that day I followed the deer’s route toward a hedgerow that separates my back yard from my neighbor’s. I was startled when a deer jumped up out of the weedy growth and galloped away. You can see the hedgerow in the next photo.

The growth was quite dense, and it took some effort to push through it toward the place where the deer seemed to have come from. As I got closer I could see the bed through the vegetation (shown in the next photo).

I struggled closer yet and there it was–a definite deer bed.

I took the next photo standing right next to it.

The compressed area was a little bigger than a normal bed and more oblong than oval, which told me that the deer had used the bed several times. Until I discovered it, the spot was a perfect day bed, well shielded and undetected by the humans in the back yards which surrounded it.

Although I’m keeping my distance, I don’t think that particular deer has been back to my hedgerow. But maybe a different animal has discovered the spot. The deer still walk through my side yard in their dusk and dawn travels, and as my scent fades from the area it may again attract a deer seeking a good day’s sleep.

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