White-tailed deer


White-tailed Deer doe. Photo by Gerco Hoogeweg. Love them or hate them, whitetails have become ubiquitous in much of the country, and Loudoun County is no exception. Few animals inspire as much controversy and divided opinion as these prolific ungulates. Estimates for the North American population at that time range from 24 to 62 million, though there were probably significantly fewer deer prior to , when introduced diseases began to radically reduce Native American populations. Whitetails were vitally important to Native Americans in the East, and their activities affected deer populations.


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South Carolina State Animal – White-Tailed Deer

Log In. White-tailed deer are common throughout the eastern United States. Adult males bucks weigh between and pounds, whereas females does weigh between 80 and pounds. Fawns are born in late spring to early summer, have characteristic spotted fur, and stay with their mothers for their first year of life.

Occasionally people encounter a fawn without an adult nearby. This is perfectly normal, as the doe leaves the fawn while she ventures away to feed. She will return to the fawn several times a day to care for it. White-tailed deer often live to be years old, especially where hunting pressure is low.

White-tailed deer are common in both urban and rural areas, adapting well to live in close proximity to humans. They are highly adaptable and use creek and river bottoms, forest plantations, croplands, mature forests, young forests, early successional vegetation, and urban areas.

Deer usually prosper following prescribed fire, timber harvest, or other disturbances which produce new vegetative growth near ground level. Deer eat a variety of hard mast e. In fall and winter, the high priority deer foods are hard and soft mast, especially acorns, along with woody evergreen plants, herbaceous vegetation, and fungi.

In the spring and summer, deer eat tender woody browse, a diverse array of forbs, and soft mast as it becomes available throughout the season. Adult deer require 6 to 8 pounds of green food per pounds of body mass daily. Reproductive rates and survival during adverse winter conditions depend on the relative body fat stored during summer and fall feeding. The abundance and quality of foods available from summer through fall largely influences the reproductive condition of deer.

Nutrition, age, and genetics govern antler development. Antlers emerge in the spring and grow throughout the summer. Antler rubbing begins in August and ends by mid-October. Breeding activity peaks from late October through December. Antlers are shed from late December to mid-April.

In the Southeast, the greatest stress period for deer typically is during later summer when woody vegetation is high in lignin i. This also is the time that does are lactating, which is an energetically expensive physiological process. Cover needs vary somewhat depending on the time of year. During the summer, deer seek out cool microclimates, often along river or creek bottoms.

Conversely, deer may bed in upland areas, including early successional vegetation communities, during other seasons. Year-round bedding cover consists of dense young timber stands, fallow fields, old beaver ponds, or secluded hardwood swamps.

Early succession vegetation, including fallow fields, frequently is used by does for fawning cover. Mowing or burning of these fields should be delayed until August to avoid killing fawns, though the best time for field management is late winter just before spring green-up.

Deer require free water occasionally. Lactating females need it daily. Succulent green plants only partially meet a deer's water needs, so a lack of free water may deter deer from using certain parts of otherwise suitable range.

A deer's home range is seldom more than to acres in the coastal plain, piedmont or mountain regions, although bucks may range wider in the fall. If not subjected to either-sex hunting, deer populations may quickly exceed available food supplies, though the increase in coyotes and other predators may suppress populations in some landscapes. Landowners should consult with a professional biologist to set harvest goals and strategies that achieve objectives and maintain the health of the herd.

Tips for Improving Deer Habitat. Intermediate treatments. Prescribed burning. Other improvements. Managing land for white-tailed deer benefits other species as well. Rather than focusing solely on white-tailed deer, management plans should emphasize the broader communities of which deer are a part.

Because deer thrive in a variety of vegetation communities, a wide variety of other wildlife can benefit from white-tailed deer management. Species that benefit from white-tailed deer management.

Early Succession. Working With Wildlife Series. Black Bear. Bobwhite Quail. Building Songbird Boxes. Eastern Cottontail Rabbit. Eastern Gray Squirrel. Endangered Species. Herbaceous Plants for Wildlife. Hummingbirds and Butterflies. Low Cost Habitat Improvements. Managing Beaver Ponds. Managing Edges for Wildlife. Mourning Dove. Pools for Amphibians. Ruffed Grouse. Snags and Downed Logs. Songbirds and Woodpeckers. White-Tailed Deer. Wild Turkey. Wildlife Terms. Wood Duck. Woodland Wildlife Nest Boxes.

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Receive Email Notifications for New Publications. NC State Extension Publications. Related Publications. Browse Working With Wildlife. White-tailed deer buck with antlers. Deer fawn. Habitat Requirements Skip to Habitat Requirements. Deer foraging in an urban greenway. Food Skip to Food.

Two white-tailed deer feeding in a snowy field. Cover Skip to Cover. Deer in wooded area. Water Skip to Water. White-tailed deer running from danger. Authors Liessa Bowen Wildlife biologist. Keywords: Wildlife Wildlife Management Deer. This publication printed on: July 11, URL of this page. Young Forest. Mature Forest.

Cottontail rabbit. Wood thrush. American goldfinch. Ruffed grouse. Hooded warbler. Indigo bunting. Gray fox. Red-eyed vireo. Wild turkey. Yellow-breasted chat. Gray squirrel.


White-Tailed Deer

The White-tailed deer, also called the Virginia deer or whitetail, is named for the white underside of its tail which is visible when it holds its tail erect when it runs. Adults have a bright reddish-brown coat in the summer and in the winter it is a duller grayish brown. The young have white spots on their reddish coats. Crepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight that is, the periods of dawn and dusk. This is distinguished from diurnal

The graceful white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is the most abundant of Massachusetts' large game animals. They belong to to an order of ungulate.

White-tailed deer

A quick flash of white, a burst of speed, and a white-railed deer bounds away on impossibly slender legs, almost gliding over the ground toward a curtain of concealing brush. A member of the Cervidae family, which also includes moose, elk, and caribou, the white-tailed deer has a thick can or brown coat in the summer that fades to grayish brown in the winter. The name "white-tailed deer" refers to the white underside of the rail. When the deer is alarmed or running, the tail is held conspicuously erect like a flag. It has white markings around its eyes and nose, as well as on its throat and stomach. Its oversized ears aid the skittish creature in picking up the sounds of predators, and its small black nose detects even the faintest of scents. While some other hoofed mammals have permanent, hollow horns, male white-tailed deer grow and shed antlers every year once they reach the age of two. White-tailed deer are herbivores or plant-eaters. The deer's diet changes with the seasons, from green plants in the spring and summer to acorns, corn, and other nuts in the fall.

SARS-CoV-2 infection in free-ranging white-tailed deer

white-tailed deer

Your source for animal handling, control methods, and wildlife species information. White-tailed deer are protected year-round in all states. Where severe or persistent damage occurs, states may issue depredation or nuisance permits to allow shooting of deer at times other than legal hunting seasons. Regulations vary on the necessary permits and on disposal of dead animals. The popularity of deer as game animals, and the need to curb poaching, have led to the development of severe penalties for illegal possession.

The findings are critical for guiding epidemiological and immunological studies of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife to determine if deer can act as reservoirs that maintain the virus in nature independent of humans. Identifying target tissues where the virus replicates during infection could also provide useful information for hunters who harvest deer.

Too Many Deer: A Bigger Threat to Eastern Forests than Climate Change?

White-tailed deer, the smallest members of the North American deer family, are found from southern Canada to South America. In the heat of summer they typically inhabit fields and meadows using clumps of broad-leaved and coniferous forests for shade. During the winter they generally keep to forests, preferring coniferous stands that provide shelter from the harsh elements. Adult white-tails have reddish-brown coats in summer which fade to a duller grayish-brown in winter. Male deer, called bucks, are easily recognizable in the summer and fall by their prominent set of antlers, which are grown annually and fall off in the winter. Only the bucks grow antlers, which bear a number of tines, or sharp points.

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Climate Change. I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. Aldo Leopold long ago warned us of the problems of a growing deer herd. Have we waited too long to heed his advice, or is there still time to reverse the damage done? No native vertebrate species in the eastern United States has a more direct effect on habitat integrity than the white-tailed deer. There are no hard numbers, but in many states deer populations continue to rise well beyond historical norms. In many areas of the country deer have changed the composition and structure of forests by preferentially feeding on select plant species.

History in Connecticut: Due to over-harvesting for venison and deerskins, market hunting, and a general loss of deer habitat caused by extensive clearing of the.

How SARS-CoV-2 in American deer could alter the course of the global pandemic

The adult White-tailed Deer has a bright, reddish brown summer coat and a duller grayish brown winter coat. White fur is located in a band behind the nose, in circles around the eyes, inside the ears, over the chin and throat, on the upper insides of the legs and beneath the tail. The young, called fawns, have reddish coats with white spots. Adult males, called bucks, inhabiting the deserts tend to be smaller than their eastern relatives, which can weigh pounds.

Kansas Mammal Atlas

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Such high levels of infection led the researchers to conclude that deer are actively transmitting the virus to one another. The scientists also identified different SARS-CoV-2 variants, suggesting there have been many human-to-deer infections. The large numbers of white-tailed deer in North America and the fact that they often live close to people provide several opportunities for the disease to move between the two species.

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JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website. Updated: January 30, The white-tailed deer is Pennsylvania's state animal. Today, Pennsylvania has an estimated 1. Deer play an important role in our forests, and everyone admires their graceful beauty. Native Americans depended on white-tailed deer as a source of food, clothing, shelter, and goods for trading.

Log In. White-tailed deer are common throughout the eastern United States. Adult males bucks weigh between and pounds, whereas females does weigh between 80 and pounds. Fawns are born in late spring to early summer, have characteristic spotted fur, and stay with their mothers for their first year of life.

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  1. Kral

    You have an entertaining and interesting article. Unlike most other similar ones, there is a minimum of water!

  2. Shakagrel

    Look at my house!

  3. Keril

    It's just one thing after another.

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