White-Tailed Deer

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Introduction

For this week’s blog post I wanted to write about Pennsylvania’s state mammal. The white-tailed deer.

 White-Tailed Deer in my Backyard

The white-tailed deer is a fairly common visitor to my backyard. Normally, I see multiple white-tailed deer several times a year. Most of the time my sighting occur during the early morning or late afternoon hours. These sighting can occur during any season, but I mainly see deer during the early spring and summer months. Most of the time I see one or two deer walking across my backyard near the cornfield.
              One time a buck came right up to my house and started drinking from my fish pond. Sadly before I could get a picture the dog noticed him and started barking, which as you can imagine scared the deer away.
             This year was a great year for whited-tailed deer sighting in my backyard. During the middle of summer a doe and three fawns visited my yard once a day for almost a week. Normally, the doe and company would emerge from the woods and walk across the front lawn, they would then cross the road and disappear over the hill. Most of these sighting lasted a few minutes.
             The week I was writing this post I also had a pretty cool sighting. I was driving home from work at night and pulled into my driveway. The car lights briefly illuminated the backyard and I saw the eye shine and black outline of four to five deer. 
                                                                                                               Photo Credit Matt Bell 2017

White-Tailed Deer Facts

The white-tailed deer got its name from the white beneath the deer’s tails that shows when the deer runs. The purpose of the raised tail it to warn other deer that danger is in the area.

  • During the 1930s the white-tailed deer population in the United States was estimated to be only 300,000 deer, compared to today’s estimated deer population which is around 30 million.

  • In 1959 the white-tailed deer was named the state animal of Pennsylvania.

  • A male white-tailed deer is known as a buck, females are known as does, and juvenile whited-tailed deer are known as fawns.

  • The white-tailed deer is able to swim 13 mph, run 40 mph, and jump 9 foot fences.

  • In Pennsylvania white tailed deer normally stand between 32 to 35 inches and are 70 inches longs. 
    A deer’s weight varies, depending on factors like time of year, age, diet, and gender. 
  • Normally, a buck will weigh around 150 lbs., and a doe normally weighs 100 lbs. In some rare cases bucks can weigh up to 275 lbs.

  • White-tailed deer are mainly active during the dawn and dusk hours.

  • (Fun Fact) The reason people call dollars bucks is due to deer. During the 1700s trading deer skins was a common form of currency. A trade record from 1748 shows the exchange rate for a cask of whiskey was 5 bucks which was deerskin.


 Habitat

The white-tailed deer is an adaptable animal that can thrive in a large number of different habitats. The most sable environments for deer is a mix of hardwood forests, meadows, cropland, and brushy areas. This is why I often get white-tailed deer in my backyard because it’s a mix of all of these with several water sources. 
           In Pennsylvania studies have shown that mixed-oak forests, and northern hardwood forest can support the largest amount of deer. Dense thickets and evergreen forest proved the best protection from predators and the elements. Evergreen forests are very important during the winter because they provide protection from the elements and a winter long food source.
Diet                                                             

The food preference of the white-tailed deer greatly depends on the time of year, and the species of plants that grow in an area. During the spring and early summer months green leaves, newly grown woody plants and herbaceous plant are eaten. During the late summer to early winter months the white-tailed deer’s main diet is made up of acorns, and soft and hard fruits. During the winter months deer mainly eat evergreen needles and dry leaves.

                                                                                                      Photo Credit Scott Bauer
 

Buck Antlers

Bucks mostly use their antlers during the breeding season to establish dominance and fight off other male deer. Bucks will also use their antlers to fight off predators when cornered, but there first defense is running away.
            Normally, a bucks first set of antlers starts to grown when he is 10 months old. From this point on the buck will shed and grow a new set of antlers yearly. A buck will shed his antlers between December and February, during these months all the does have bred. The antlers start to grow back in late spring and are covered with a tissue called velvet. Most of the time a buck’s antlers branch out of the main beam, however in some cases the antlers may be atypical. These types of antlers may branch out in any direction from the main antler beam.
          In some rare cases a doe will be born with antlers. This rare phenomenon only occurs in one in 10,000 females.
                                                                                                                  Photo Credit Woodlot

Deer Herds

During the winter months large numbers of female deer can be seen eating and traveling together. Male deer normally form smaller groups of two to four members. These groups of deer are only temporary with the members of the groups having no strong ties to eat other. The groups will break up during the yearly breeding season.
The most common type of family groups are an adult doe and her fawns. Some groups have three or four generations of does traveling together. During breeding season the adult does will temporarily break ties with the family group. Sometimes this will cause younger fawns to leave the territory of the mother deer. This type of movement is known as dispersal. Most of the time young male deer will leave the mothers territory when the yearly breeding seasons approaches.   

Reproduction

Breeding season for white-tailed deer starts in September reaches its height in November, and ends in January. Females are able to reproduce at seven or eight month and give birth at 14 to 15 months.
A doe’s gestation period is seven months. Fawns are normally born in May or June. Unlike adult white-tailed deer fawns are covered in white spots. These spots help the fawn blend in with the forest.

Pennsylvania Deer Overpopulation

One problem PA faces concerning white-tailed deer is overpopulation. In 2001 it was estimated that 1.5 million white-tailed deer are living in Pennsylvania. This large population of deer has greatly affected the biodiversity of Pennsylvania forests. A healthy forest has many different species of wildlife, trees, flowers, and shrubs. Deer often target wildflowers, shrubs, and young trees. This leads to forests with few young trees, and limited biodiversity. Studies have also shown that deer like to eat species of native plants over exotic plant species. “A great example of this occurs at my job, which has about five arches of forest pets can walk through. Since the area is off limits to hunting white-tailed deer are a common sight during the early morning hours. The forest floor around the walking path is covered with Japanese roses which is an invasive species from eastern Asia.”
            Another problem the overpopulation of white-tailed deer causes is vehicles accidents. Pennsylvania has the highest amount of deer collisions in the Country. 10 percent of insurance claims that are processed by State Farm for deer collisions come from Pennsylvania. “Fortunately, I have no tales of hitting a deer on the road, although I have seen many deer cross my path on the road.”  

                                                                                                   Photo Credit  Iamjohnm


Where are the White-tailed Deer Natural Predators?

In the Pennsylvania ecosystem all of the white-tailed deer’s natural predators have been driven from the state. Pennsylvania was once home to cougars, wolves, and even grizzle bears. These predators were hunted to extinction in the state during the 1800s. This has caused a great ecological imbalance because now the deer have no natural predators. Currently, the main factors that is keeping Pennsylvania’s deer population somewhat in check is human hunters.
               Fawns and sick deer are at times preyed upon by bobcats, black bears, and coyotes. However, the amount of deer killed by these predators is not enough to heavily impact the PA deer population.

Conclusion

The white-tailed deer is the Pennsylvania state animal, and a favorite game animal nationwide. It is always a pleasure to have the white-tailed deer visit my backyard. Hopefully, in the future Pennsylvania’s natural predators are reintroduced to help solve the white-tailed deer overpopulation issue. Join me next time as we explore wildlife in my backyard and other nature topics.                                   

 Additional Resources and Reference Websites

From The Woods. (2001). White-Tailed Deer. Retrieved from 
http://www.envirothonpa.org/documents/FTW-White-tailedDeer.pdf
LancasterOnline. (2017). Pennsylvania tops in the nation for deer-vehicle collisions. Here's why. Retrieved from 
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/pennsylvania-tops-in-the-nation-for-deer-vehicle-collisions-here/article_af528ec4-5af0-11e5-9c36-a3d31d5f85fe.html
Koryos. (2014). White-Tailed Deer Overpopulation in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.koryoswrites.com/nonfiction/white-tailed-deer-overpopulation-in-the-united-states/
Merevick, T. (2017).  News Here's Why We Call Dollars 'Bucks’ Retrieved from https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/heres-why-dollars-are-called-bucks
National Geographic Society. (2017). White-Tailed Deer. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/w/white-tailed-deer/
Pennsylvania Game Commission. (N.D.). White-tailed Deer Wildlife Note. Retrieved from http://www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/WildlifeNotesIndex/Pages/White-tailedDeer.aspx
State Symbols USA. (2017). White-Tailed Deer. Retrieved from 
https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/pennsylvania/state-mammal/white-tailed-deer
Photo credit

Iamjohnm (Own work) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AWhite-tailed_deer_in_Buena_Vista%2C_VA.jpg
Jerry Segraves (en:User:Jsegraves99) – http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/byways/photos/64103, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=733287


Scott Bauer - Image Number: K5437-3.http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/may01/k5437-3.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=245466

Woodlot (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAugustBucks2011.jpg





 

                                                              

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