The Deer
The deer has been around as long as man can remember. It has always been in
North and South America, and not that long ago was brought to Europe. The deer has
been hunted for centuries by Stone Age man, American Indians, and now modern day
hunters. The weapons used to hunt deer have changed as time goes on. They were
hunted with rocks by Stone Age man, with spears and hand crafted bow and arrows by
the Indians, with guns and still today the bow and arrow by modern day hunters. The
purpose of my paper is to discuss the types of deer in the world today, what habitat they
live in, their instincts or habits, the over population of the whitetail deer in the United
States, and the large sport of hunting deer.
Their are three major types of deer in the world today. There is the whitetail deer,
mule deer, and blacktail deer. The whitetail is the most popular of the three. The
whitetail deer is broken up into many different species. The northwestern whitetail,
Texas whitetail, northeastern whitetail, southeastern whitetail, Coues whitetail, Mexican
whitetail, and the Key whitetail are all the species in the America?s today. the mule deer
is only broken into two different species. The Rocky Mountain mule deer and the desert
mule deer are the two species. The blacktail deer is broken into two species also. There
is the Sitka blacktail and the Columbia blacktail (Lawrence 60-62).
Deer can live and flourish in just about any habitat. They are the only large animal
that lives every where in North America. Deer live in most of Central America and in
many parts of South America. The whitetail deer inhabits Central America, Mexico, all
the U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii, southern Canada, and South America. Recently
have been brought to Europe, the West Indies, and New Zealand. The mule deer lives
in southwestern Canada, twenty two U.S. states, northwestern Coahuila,
northern Chihuahua, northern Sonora, Texas, Arizona, northern Mexico, and southern
California. The blacktail deer mainly inhabits the Pacific Coast. It lives between
southwestern Alaska and southern California. In the north the blacktail lives in
Vancouver, British Colombia, islands of Queen Charlotte, and have been brought to the
islands in Prince William Sound. Towards the south the blacktail lives in California and
at the turn of the century were brought to Hawaii (Lawrence 60-62).
Deer like all animals have instincts or habits. Most deer, no matter where they live
have the same instincts. For example all deer in the northern hemisphere breed in
November. This breeding period is called the rut. During the rut the only thing deer are
thinking about is breeding. They pay no attention to cars on the road and that is why at
this time more than fifty percent of deer that get hit in a year get hit during the rut. While
the rut is going on in November all the bucks are checking out all the doe to see if they
meet their standards. Bucks are also showing of to the does by flaunting his rack and
fighting and defeating other bucks to show their superiority (www.ohiowildlife.com). Most
all bucks are dominate and aggressive animals. There are a few older ones who do not
have any desire to fight. Instead of fighting they hide all day. Between August and
October is when deer shed their velvet. During this time bucks hang around with each
other. They spar for fun with each other. they stay friendly with each other till the rut
(Ingram 49-51). Just about all deer have the same eating habits. Deer eat mainly
between sundown and sunrise. Almost never will you see a deer go and eat in a field in
brood daylight. They eat in the fields at night but never during the day. During the day,
when they occasionally they?ll eat close and around the fields where they can feel safe
and still get good crops. When the sun starts to come up they head back to their
bedding areas. On their way back to their bedding areas, or whatever movement they do
during the day they follow tree, fence, and creek lines. Deer that live adjacent big farms
with fields get to know farm machines, but split as soon as they see different vehicles.
Deer usually sleep during the day and do as much as possible at night when they feel
safer(Murray 44). When it snows deer move around without worry because snow makes
the woods or fields quiet, so its easier to hear things. Even though their hearing gets
better in snow their smelling gets worse. They don?t lose any ability to smell, the scents
in the woods are covered and not allowed to spread. Deer turn gray in winter to be blend
in to there surroundings. They have a tough time walking in deep snow. In awful storms
deer go under or into thick cover and can and will stay there for days. A big snow storm
will also mess up dear eating habits. They are forced into eating twigs and buds of small
trees. In winter, when there is no snow, they normally eat crop remains, acorns, broad
leaves, weeds, and grass (Almy 104-107).
The overpopulation of deer is becoming a big problem in most of the U.S. today.
Many states are encouraging people to hunt to lower the number of deer in an area. In
some places their are so many that the deer are getting very skinny and sick because of
lack of food. In the U.S. today their is an estimated average of thirteen million deer,
compared to the turn of the century when there was only five hundred thousand. Over
two million are killed each year by hunters and cars. Even though that two million a year
are killed, range and population are going up (Lawrence 60-62). Most states have
opened up state owned property for the use of the public to hunt. There are so many
doe, female deer, in the U.S. today that most that most of them do not get to breed,
because there are not enough bucks. Many towns in the U.S. are trying to get hunters to
hunt more doe in hope that it brings down their population. They are encouraging
hunters by lowering tag costs (www.ohiowildlife.com).
Deer hunting has become a very large sport in the world today. It is enjoyed by
males and females of all ages. Hunters use a wide variety of weapons when hunting
deer. The most commonly used are the rifle, shotgun, and bow and arrow. The rifle is
more popular than the shotgun and bow. The bow and arrow were never really used
until the late seventies, but now has become very popular. The bow is the safest and
quietest weapon used to hunt deer. For example in the state of Ohio, since 1943 there
has only been one death from a bow hunting accident. Crossbows are sometimes used
to hunt deer also. In some states, for example Massachusetts, crossbows are outlawed.
The deer that is hunted the most is the whitetail deer. Deer hunting has become such a
popular sport that last year in Ohio it contributed two hundred million dollars to Ohio?s
economy. The deer hunter is said to spend an average of about four hundred dollars a
year on hunting. That doesn?t include cost of a deer hunting licenses and permits. Illegal
deer poaching does happen a lot believe it or not. States are making a big effort to try
and stop it by setting up hotlines for people to call if they witness any illegal poaching
(www.ohiowildlife.com). Deer hunting has become one of Prince William of England
most favorite things to do. At 14 he shot his first deer. Prince Harry, William?s younger
brother, only twelve, is very interested in hunting too. Even Princes Diana has hunted
and shot a deer. She was only thirteen when she shot it and is said to have been bored
by hunting (Prince William bags a stag, getting blooded and prompting an outcry 62).
What you should have learned in this paper is the types of deer that live in the
world today, what habitat deer live in, their habits, the over population of the whitetail
deer in the United States, and the large sport of hunting deer. I just got into bow hunting
last year, that is why I decided to do the deer for my term paper. I was introduced to bow
hunting by my cousins in New Jersey. I went down there to visit last year and my
cousins are the best bow hunters in the state of New Jersey. In the I.B.O tournaments
the last three years one of them has come in first and the other in second every year.
They were so happy that I wanted to start bow hunting they set me up and gave me all
the goods. They brought me out hunting and in twenty minutes one of them had a doe.
Since then I have been buying all the equipment I need and practicing every week. I
think deer are wonderful animals and I hope to bag one this year. If you are never not
sure about getting into the sport, do it, its the best thing I ever did. Even if you are
against the killing of deer go out some day and just sit in the woods and watch them they
are gracious animals.