Outdoors: CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORIES: White-tailed deer

If you see a deer crossing the road or walking across your yard, chances are it’s a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). These animals weigh anywhere from 110 to 300 pounds, and when threatened, they flash the white underside of their tail, hence their name. They aren’t very picky about their habitat, but can usually be found in the open woodlands and mixed forests of southern Canada, the United States and down into Bolivia in Central America.

White-tailed deer are the most common and widespread deer in the Americas, so it seems unheard of that they could ever become an endangered species. And yet, they were once just that. For thousands of years, the only humans these animals had to contend with were native Americans.

Most native American tribes were semi-nomadic, and they would use fire to clear large tracks of woodland to make room for their crops and homes. After a few years, the tribe would leave the area and the area’s wild plants would be able to grow back, providing food and habitat for deer and other animals. This burn-and-grow cycle encouraged the growth of new, healthy plants, and thus was beneficial to the overall health of the ecosystem.

The beginning of the white-tailed deer’s downfall can be traced back to the days of the early European settlers when they started claiming residence along the eastern seaboard, prime white-tailed deer habitat. These settlers must have reasoned that the deer were too numerous to be wiped out, as they soon began hunting them in earnest for both their skins and meat. They also brought sheep, cattle and other livestock to the new world that competed with the deer for food. Once they got wind of how much money deer meat and skin was worth, native Americans that had been given guns by the settlers joined the hunting fray as well, sometimes bringing home five or six deer daily.

In the mid-1600s, some people realized that white-tailed deer populations were taking a dip and decided to do something about it. A closed season on deer hunting was initiated in Portsmouth, R.I., on Feb. 4, 1646. The law decreed was that from the first of May until the first of November, “if any shall shoot a deere [sic] within that time he shall forfeit five pounds…” Other early American colonies followed suite with similar laws and appointed “deer reeves,” officers whose job it was to ensure deer poachers paid their due. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to enforce such laws in those days, and as European settlers moved out west after the Revolution, so did the white-tailed deer hunts.

An official estimate by T. S. Palmer of the U.S. Biological Survey (now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) determined that no more than 300,000 white-tailed deer remained in the United States and Canada by 1890. This sounds like a lot until we remember that in addition to the fact that many of these animals would succumb to predators and illness, poachers would often band together in groups and bring home hundreds of deer at a time. In 1818, one such group from Medinia, Ohio, shot 300 deer in just one day!

By 1890 there was localized extinction or near-extinction of white-tailed deer west of the Rockies, throughout the Appalachians, and in many of the Midwest and Great Plains states. Scientists, hunters and early conservationists became concerned that the white-tailed deer may soon be a goner for good.

This is what brought about the beginning of great change in the dawn of the 20th century. T. S. Palmer and his agency put great effort into raising white-tailed deer in captivity. Scores of laws and hunting regulations were set up and heavily enforced protecting white-tailed deer and their natural habitat from further overhunting. State wildlife agencies were also beginning to rise at this time to keep close tabs on the deer population.

White-tailed deer conservation methods were a great success! While some subspecies of white-tailed deer, like the Florida Key deer and the Columbian white-tailed deer, are still endangered, the species as a whole has made a comeback. It was estimated back in 2005 that white-tailed deer in the United States have a population of around 30 million individuals! It is because of the white-tailed deer’s plight that regulated hunting measures and conservation methods are being used as a model to help other animal species still in need of our protection today.

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Christian Ryan can be reached at animaladventures1314@gmail.com