A popular game species, the whitetail is so well known that it needs only a brief description. Antlers normally occur only in males and are formed and shed each year. Growth of the antler starts in April or May when the base of the antler, located on the skull, begins to enlarge. During the growth period, the soft skin and short hair which cover each antler have a plushlike quality, giving this stage the name of "velvet." Full antler size is reached in August or September, shortly before the breeding, or rutting, season. The velvet then begins to dry and peel. The buck rubs his antlers against trees and shrubs, which helps remove the skin. When all the skin has been shed, the bony core hardens and with continued rubbing is polished. The antlers are carried in this condition throughout the rut. Sometime toward the end of the breeding season, usually from the last of December to mid-February, resorption of bone around the base causes the antlers to become loose and they are shed. After falling to the ground, they are gnawed and eventually consumed by rodents and rabbits for their minerals and protein.

Both the size of the antler and number of points depend upon many factors such as the deer's age, the quality and quantity of food, injury, hormone regulation and heredity. It is not possible to tell the age of a buck by the size of the antlers or the number of points. In their first fall, fawn bucks have "buttons" that can be felt under the skin or observed as slight swellings, or they may actually have small unbranched, or spiked, antlers that have broken through the skin. In yearling bucks, antlers are always visible externally. While some may have only the unbranched main beam at this age, most have more than one point. During the succeeding years of the buck's life, the antlers become more massive. In general, the number of points increases to a total of six to 10, but frequently a few more occur. Following the period of life when sexual activity is greatest, the size of the antlers generally dwindles with each year's renewal until an old deer may have only spikes. Abnormally shaped antlers occur occasionally and sometimes represent injury during growth. An upset in the hormone system is one factor which is probably responsible for unusual cases of antlerless bucks or for females having antlers. In some cases, antlerless bucks are the result of hereditary factors. Hunters count all of the points, including the snag on both beams, in arriving at the total number of points on a trophy set of antlers.

In summer, both sexes are reddish brown to tan above (often called the "red" coat); the color pattern of the winter coat is similar to the summer one but is grayish to grayish brown (often called the "blue" coat). Fawns are reddish, brown or reddish yellow spotted with white. They gradually lose their spots and acquire uniform coloration between 3 and 5 months of age.

The sex of a deer cannot be determined by its track, because there is no constant difference between the size and shape of buck and doe hoofs. During the breeding season, the necks of males swell to approximately twice their nonbreeding size, reaching a maximum in mid-November. The factors causing this enlargement are not fully understood.