White Tail Deer


White-tailed deer are the smallest of the three members of the deer family found in Michigan, the others being elk and moose. They range throughout Michigan and are a game animal in this state. As a species, they extend from the southern edge of the arctic prairies in Canada, all the way to the northern bank of the Amazon River.
"White-tailed" refers to the distinctive white tail that when raised is a flag and provides a flash of white, signaling other deer when there is danger. Deer are graceful and swift runners (up to 35 miles per hour), but do not generally run long distances, preferring to seek the nearest shelter whenever possible. Male deer are called "bucks", females "does" and baby deer "fawns". These deer tend to live in female-led family groups of up to 25 deer and may live to ten years or more.
Their size ranges between 125 to 225 pounds, although really healthy bucks may be even larger. Their coat is a reddish-brown color in the summer, but becomes much more gray in the winter. This change helps to hide them as the colors of their environment change. Their tubular or hollow hairs provide insulation, allowing them to lie on snow without melting it, as well as creating enough buoyancy for swimming.
Deer have been a valuable resource in Michigan since the first Native Americans began to hunt them. Prior to European settlement, Michigan had an abundant deer herd in the south. The mixture of hardwoods, wetlands, bogs and forest openings was perfect for deer. There were few deer in the virgin forests of the north, which were inhabited mostly by elk and moose. The mature trees were so dense that sunlight could not reach the forest floor and therefore little deer food was available.
As farmers and settlers moved into southern Michigan, deer were exterminated by removal of cover and by unregulated shooting - deer were mostly gone by 1870. Logging of forests in the north produced an opposite effect--more openings, brush, and young forests - the northern herd climbed to estimated 1 million deer in the 1880s.
Today the herd is somewhat smaller, but nevertheless, there are deer all over the Upper Peninsula. In the fall the hunting season is a family tradition and enjoyed by a very large percentage of the local population.