Like cattle, whitetails are ruminants, or cud chewers. They gulp food without chewing and store it in the rumen, the first and largest chamber of their 4-part stomach. This feeding behavior is advantageous in severe weather or when hunting pressure is heavy. The deer can feed rapidly when the opportunity presents itself, easily consuming 5 pounds of food in a half-hour. Then they retreat to the safety of heavy cover.
Once bedded, the deer regurgitates food from its rumen, chews its cud (the term for regurgitated food) and swallows it. The food then passes through the other stomach chambers for further digestion.
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