White-tailed deer
The most common large mammal in eastern parks, running through the woods and waving a white tail like a flag when it bolts.
White-tailed deer at a glance
Odocoileus virginianus white-tailed deer is WHITE-tayld deer; Odocoileus virginianus is oh-doh-KOY-lee-us ver-jin-ee-AY-nus
- Type
- Mammal · deer
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Size
- About as long as a bathtub nose to tail (5 to 6.5 feet) and about as tall at the shoulder as a 3-foot yardstick stands up. A big buck can weigh up to about 300 pounds, more than a grown man.
- Lifespan
- Most live 2 to 3 years in the wild; the record is about 20. A doe usually has 1 to 2 fawns in spring.
- Conservation
- Least concern (IUCN); not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
Eats leaves, twigs, buds, acorns, grasses, farm crops
White-tailed deer browse and graze at dawn and dusk, eating buds, twigs, and acorns in the woods and grasses and forbs along open field edges. That is why you see them along a park road or meadow as the light goes low.
Should you worry?
White-tailed deer normally run from people. Two honest cautions: in fall, bucks protecting territory can be aggressive, so never approach or feed one; and deer are most active at dusk and dawn, which is when car-deer crashes happen, so go slow near park roads. If you find a spotted fawn alone, leave it, because its mother hid it on purpose and is nearby.
The first sign is usually the wrong way around: you see a flash of white flicking through the trees, and only then do you notice the deer that made it. A white-tailed deer startled does not just run. It hoists its tail, bright white on the underside, and waves it side to side like a flag semaphore, a signal any other deer in the woods can read. The forest that looked empty a second ago is suddenly full of animals you never noticed, each one answering the flag.
That tail is the reason the species has its name, and the reason it has survived everything a human century could throw at it. A hundred years ago, hunters had nearly wiped deer out of many states; today millions roam the eastern woods again, so many that parks spend their effort asking you not to feed them. The fawn you will find curled alone in the tall grass in June is part of the reason the numbers climbed: a fawn is nearly scentless, lies flat and still, and even holds its waste until its mother returns, so a predator circling the meadow finds no smell, no trail, nothing.
Cuyahoga and the Smokies and Shenandoah are good places to see all of this in the open at dusk. Watch from the car or the meadow edge, eyes up for the flag, and go slow on park roads near the long grass.
Did you know?
- When a deer bolts, it flips its tail up like a white flag and waves it side to side, warning the rest of the group through the trees.
- A fawn is nearly scentless and lies flat and still, and even holds its waste until its mother returns, so predators can find no smell or trail.
- A century ago overhunting nearly wiped deer out of many states; today millions roam the continent again, which is why parks ask you not to feed them.
Common questions
Why do fawns have spots?
The spots break up their outline so they disappear in the dappled light of the forest floor.
Do fawns get abandoned if you touch them?
Don't touch them. Their mother hides them on purpose and comes back, and she is usually watching you from nearby.
Are deer slow?
No. They bound through heavy woods at up to about 30 miles an hour and they are strong swimmers.
Why are there so many deer along park roads?
Because roads cut open meadow edges, and deer love the mix of woods to hide in and open grass to eat.