Deer Facts
All The Deer Facts You Ever Wanted To Know
In the United States, as there is approximately one deer for every 15 humans, knowing certain deer facts can help us in understanding how to best get along with this very large animal population. We tend to look kindly on deer, maybe because for many of us, our first deer encounter was Bambi. The next may have been in the zoo, or one of our national parks. Others of us were born and raised in an area having large deer populations, and seeing a deer in the neighborhood was no big deal. Except for when we see them in our vegetable or flower garden, or 20 feet in front of our speeding automobile, we generally enjoy watching them.
There are three major species of deer in the United States, the white-tailed deer, the black-tailed deer, and the mule deer. The mule deer is found primarily in the western states, and is generally one of the most difficult deer to hunt, especially when trophy bucks are the goal. The others are generally found throughout the nation. Elk and moose are also near-relatives of the deer, often sharing the same area.
Deer have not always been this plentiful in the United States. The white-tailed population in particular, has grown significantly during the past century. As one example, the deer population of New York State increased 50 fold during that time period. Similar figures can be attributed to other states. Part of this is due to successful management of the deer population, and part of it has been due to the decrease or elimination of some predators, removing a natural check on deer population. Wolves and mountain lion still are present of course, but the main force keeping deer population within limits these days may well be humans and automobiles.
To place humans and automobiles as deer population control agents under deer facts, may seem a bit ludicrous, until you consider the fact that there are nearly half a million automobile-deer collisions in the United States every year. Vehicle damage amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, plus thousands of injuries, and perhaps hundreds of deaths, point to one of the problems caused by a very large deer population.
Other deer facts of interest highlight crop damage which has been attributed to deer. In some areas of the country, damage has been quite significant and local or state authorities permit the shooting of deer to prevent this damage from getting our of hand.
Still, we tend to love these animals, so here are some other deer facts that are offered on a lighter note. Deer, for one thing, are very territorial. They do not roam from area to area, but normally stay in one area throughout their lives. Deer have even been known to stay in the same area and starve, rather than leave, even when the food supply runs low.
A deer in the wild has a life expectancy of 10 to 12 years. If a pair of deer reproduce normally, having 2 fawns each year, and there are no predators, the family can become a herd of over 30 deer in 7 years time. From this fact it becomes quite apparent that, given appropriate management practices, our deer population could be increased many times over if that were the goal.
A huge deer population is not the goal of course, but it is rather nice to know that these wonderful animals will likely always be with us, in spite of the problems they sometimes cause.