REGIONAL—Throughout the year, the fur coats on white-tailed deer change to match the seasonal weather and temperature. Every spring deer shed their thicker winter coat and replace it with a much thinner summer coat. As deer shed their hair in the spring, also called molting, they can look ragged or tattered as clumps of their darker winter coat fall off and the reddish summer coat begins to show through. This somewhat unattractive look can cause people to think deer are sick or injured, but don’t fret, deer are simply going through the molting process. Molting is relatively quick, typically taking 2-3 weeks to complete. In the fall, usually in August or September, deer will begin molting their summer coat and transitioning to their winter coat and the yearly cycle begins again.