Label the Parts of a Deer – Worksheet With a Key

All 10 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The buck 5

Antlers Bone. A buck sheds them and grows a new set every year.
Ear Deer have long ears and sharp hearing.
Nose A deer depends mainly on smell to detect danger.
Throat patch The chin and throat stay white all year.
Tail The underside is white and shows when the tail goes up.

One antler 5

Pedicle The base on the skull that each antler grows from.
Burr The rim at the base of the antler, also called the coronet.
Main beam The main shaft of the antler. It curves forward over the face.
Brow tine The first tine on the beam, low down near the base.
Tines (points) The points of the antler. They rise from the main beam.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two of these use it: (1) University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web, Odocoileus virginianus, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Odocoileus_virginianus/ (white fur on the chin and throat, inside the ears and beneath the tail; the tarsal gland inside each hind leg at the hock, the metatarsal gland outside each hind leg, scent glands between the hoof's two parts; antlers and velvet; hearing and smell); (2) Missouri Department of Conservation, field guide, White-Tailed Deer, https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/white-tailed-deer (white chin, throat and underside of the tail; antlers formed and shed each year; two-part pointed hooves; the two dewclaws); (3) University of Missouri Extension, Antler Development in White-tailed Deer, G9486, https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g9486 (pedicle, main beam, points, velvet; a new set every year); (4) Mississippi State University Deer Lab, antler growth cycle, https://www.msudeer.msstate.edu/growth-cycle.php (pedicle, burr or coronet, main beam, points or tines, brow tines); (5) Wikipedia, White-tailed deer, Antler, Deer and Dewclaw, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antler (the hock as the middle joint of the hind leg; tarsal and metatarsal glands; the white underside of the tail; pedicle, burr, beam, brow as the first tine; dewclaws farther up the leg than the hooves). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05. The outline of the body, the head, the neck and the legs, and the stance, were measured on a public domain plate: Common or Virginian Deer (Cervus Virginianus, Gmel), Old male and female, plate 136 of J. J. Audubon and J. Bachman, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, drawn by John Woodhouse Audubon, 1845 to 1848, in the scan of the Missouri Historical Society on Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_or_Virginian_Deer_(Cervus_Virginianus,_Gmel),_Old_male_and_female_-_DPLA_-_e210d5cba1350b01c7f9e1c4ddf9c029.jpg). Changed from the plate: the head is turned into profile, the antler is a plain four-tine antler drawn here, the tail is lifted half up, the feet stand flat on one ground line and the hoofs, dewclaws and gland tufts are drawn a little larger than life. Licence: own drawing; outline after a public domain plate

How it works

To label the parts of a deer, write a name on the line for each number. Numbers 1 to 5 are on a white-tailed buck seen from the side. Numbers 6 to 10 are on one antler, drawn large.

Read the full guide

Deer worksheet word bank

Ten names, in alphabetical order: antlers, brow tine, burr, ear, main beam, nose, pedicle, tail, throat patch, tines (points). On the large antler, 6 and 7 sit together at the base: 6 is the stub of skull under the antler, 7 the knobbly ring where the antler begins. Number 9 is the one short spike near the base, and 10 ends on one of the three tall ones.

A shorter deer sheet: five names

The five parts of the whole buck are a sheet of their own, numbered 1 to 5, with no number on the large antler: antlers, ear, nose, throat patch and tail. The hooves and the scent glands of the hind legs have no number on either sheet.

When marking, rack is right on line 1, muzzle on line 3 and coronet on line 7.
Eye guard or first tine is right on line 9, and points on line 10.
For coloring in: reddish brown in summer, grayish brown in winter. The chin, throat, belly and underside of the tail stay white.

Questions and answers

What are a male, a female and a baby deer called?

A buck, a doe and a fawn. The deer on this sheet is a buck. A white-tailed fawn is reddish brown with white spots, and it loses the spots within a few months.

Do female deer have antlers?

Usually not. In most kinds of deer only the males grow antlers. Reindeer are the exception: the females carry antlers too, normally smaller than the males'.

Are antlers the same as horns?

No. An antler is grown, shed and grown again. A horn, like those of sheep, goats and cattle, is bone inside a sheath of keratin and usually is not shed.

Does the deer worksheet have an answer key?

Yes. The key prints both drawings with their numbers and lists the ten names in order, antlers first and tines last.