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White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

White-tailed Deer | Stillwater, MN | View Enlarged Image

The Midwest's Only Marsupial

It's probably happened to you before. You're walking through the woods, or on to your patio in the early evening hours, when you lock eyes with a White-tailed Deer. It licks its chops for a moment as if testing the air and turns around, tail raised, and sprints away. Before it is even out of sight, there is a clattering of branches and shadows dash among the trees all around you as, one by one, tails are raised and the herd moves on.

Reaching speeds of up to 36 miles per hour at a dash, it's amazing that Deer don't rely on their extraordinary speed and agility more than they do. As it is, camouflage is one of their main defenses. At a distance, Deer can be very hard to distinguish from the shadows of tall trees and the ruddy color of fallen leaves. Fawn (pictured at left) are born with white spots that give them a little added camouflage protection during their younger, more vulnerable years.

The Downside to Adaptation

While many animals are driven away by suburban sprawl, White-tailed Deer are actually reaping the benefits of it. Humans provide abundant food in the way of houseplants and even deer feeders, and their presence repels most of their natural predators, such as the Cougar and the Timber Wolf. The only real predator they have in our area is the coyote (which can only take out the sickly and the very young), and even they are getting rarer as humans encroach on their territory. No predators and an abundance of food spells one thing; overpopulation.

While it's great that deer are able to thrive in our area, overpopulation does not help a species. By pitting animals against predators, nature forces species like deer to overcome obstacles; to evolve to become stronger, smarter, more resistant to disease and to the elements. By taking away most of their natural predators, we allow White-tailed Deer to become weak, overpopulated. They become more prone to parasites and diseases that can be passed on to humans and domestic animals.

While many people advocate hunting as a reasonable alternative to natural predators, it can't be the only solution. First of all, many herds have already migrated towards heavily populated suburbs where hunting is illegal. Second, if it's survival of the fittest, just about all animals are equally "fit" against a bullet, and most hunters are going to aim for the biggest, strongest bucks. In nature, these bad boys would have the best chance against predators and disease. Many hunters are scrupulous, and want to protect both deer and open spaces just as much as those of us who do not hunt do. Many will put the welfare of the species they hunt before a hunk of venison or a trophy for their living room wall. They also know that while hunting is a means to control certain animal populations, it cannot be the only solution we practice. We need to employ more common sense and have a mind for open space and wildlife preservation when developing residential areas.

Deer-proofing your Lawn or Garden:

A practical approach:

Deer will eat hostas and other garden and landscaping plants. While this makes many homeowners angry, to deer it's just a food source. There is no reliable way to keep Deer away from our gardens. Shooting Deer is illegal in most suburban areas, few of us have the money to buy live traps. Pepper sprays do seem to work, but a more effective, longer lasting and less expensive route is to spread watered-down urine over house plants. While deer have to taste the plant for the pepper to work, the smell of urine drives them away.

Feeding Deer:

It is illegal to feed deer in some areas. Be sure to check your local by-laws. While many people strive to keep deer away from their expensive hostas and rose bushes, deer feeding can be just as entertaining (and often more economical) than cultivating a garden. There are three easy ways to attract deer to your backyard; salt licks, food, and water.

Salt Licks

Salt licks can be obtained at most feed stores, and many grocery stores like Cub and Rainbow. Simply place them in a sheltered area (away from the rain), and they're sure to draw any deer in the area. Be sure not to place the salt lick too near cultivated grass, saplings, or house plants, as the salt will destroy their roots. Placing it on a table, chair, or pedestal often works the best.

Water

Deer will drink from bird baths that are placed low enough (usually about 4') for them to get to. These baths may be maintained through the winter with the use of electrical heating coils available online or at most feed shops. Conventional basins, fountains, or even dog bowls are easy ways of providing deer and other animals water sources. Try to change the water at least once a week.

Food:

The easiest (and often cheapest) way to feed deer is to get a 50# bag of corn (recleaned cracked in the spring and summer, whole in the winter). 50# will keep a pair of deer coming back for a month or more. An even simpler way to go about it, if you live in an area with many oaks, is to collect acorns that fall in your driveway or porch, and mix them with the corn. If you do use acorns, be sure to stow the mix in a garage or shed; there are many insects that lay their eggs in acorns. An acorn/corn mix is very popular mix with deer, squirrels, mallards, and geese.

Some interesting White-tailed Deer facts:

• Deer are active year-round, day and night.
• Interested in tracking? Oval-shaped depressions in vegetation or snow, heart-shaped tracks, discarded antlers, thrashed saplings and bushes, and trees stripped of their bark five feet up or higher are signs of White-tailed Deer.
• Most people don't know it, but White-tailed Deer will wade into water waist-deep to get at the stems and roots of lily pads.
• Bucks are the ones who grow the antlers. These are actually extensions of their skull. They start out as spikes in the first year, and gain more and more "points" as they reach maturity. Antlers begin to grow in early summer, and are initially covered in a skin with a fine fur, called "velvet". In late summer and early fall, their bodies cut the blood supply to this skin, and it peels off, leaving the bare bones, which they use as weapons in their mating rituals. In winter (usually January or February,) males shed their antlers or lose them in combat. These can sometimes be found lying in forests and fields, but this is not common. Many rodents consider them a delicacy, and eat them for the calcium they provide. A mature deer with small antlers is a sign of disease or malnutrition.
• Like cattle, White-tailed Deer have a five-lobed stomach. When one lobe is finished digesting, it sends the food back up the throat and into the mouth as "cud". Deer chew this cud and then swallow it back down, digesting it in another lobe. While this may seem disgusting, it allows the White-tailed Deer to get extra nutrition from leaves and grasses, and allows it to survive off less food than many animals of its size would normally require. This is a great evolutionary advantage; especially in the winter!
• Males (called bucks) go into "rut" during mating season. They will thrash saplings, rub their antlers against trees, and lock horns with other males to impress eligible females. Rutting bucks have even been known to charge humans on rare occasions!
• White-tailed Deer form 'family groups' of a female and her fawns (young), and buck groups, which are primarily male. Normally, females only frequent buck groups during mating season.
• It's not a good idea to let pets mix with deer. Deer have parasites and diseases (deer ticks, chronic wasting disease) which can be quite harmful to pets and humans alike! It's also an especially bad (and illegal) idea to try to domesticate deer.

Multimedia:

White-tailed Deer | Afton State Park	White-tailed Fawn with Young | Photo Credit: Judy Pluff | Woodbury, MN	White-tailed Deer forge Long Lake | (4.21 MB MPEG-1 Video) | Stillwater, MN
White-tailed Deer trail indicators; chewed hostas | Stillwater, MN	White-tailed Deer trail indicators; track | Pine Point Park

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