Deer

Deer can be found throughout the entire western United States, including in desert climates. All varieties of deer have slender legs. Most are brown or gray in color, with white spots characterizing the young, and in a few species, the adults. The males have antlers. The antlers are normally branching to form 2 equal forks, sometimes with curving antlers with a number of points (tines) branching from the main beam.

Vocalization

Deer are not especially vocal, although young fawns bleat on occasion. Injured deer utter a startlingly loud BLATT or bawl.

Behavior

Seasonal movements involving migrations from higher elevations (summer ranges) to lower winter ranges are associated, in part, with decreasing temperatures, severe snowstorms, and snow depths that reduce mobility and food supply. Deep snows ultimately limit useable range to a fraction of the total. Deer in the arid southwest may migrate in response to rainfall patterns.

Habitat

Deer move between various zones from the forest edges at higher elevations to the desert floor, depending on the season. While deer occupy almost all types of habitat within its range, it seems to prefer arid, open areas and rocky hillsides.

Food & Hunting

Food of the deer is quite varied. In Spring and Summer it feeds on green leaves, herbs, weeds and grasses more than on browse species. The reverse is true in Fall and Winter. Deer are browsers and eat a great variety of vegetable matter, including fresh green leaves, twigs, lower branches of trees, and various grasses. They are particularly fond of blackberry and raspberry vines, grapes, eggplant, mistletoe, mushrooms, and ferns. They eat so carefully they can even consume the fruit of cactus.

Breeding

The mating season for deer reaches its peak in November and December, as antlered stags round up females and fight for their possession. Antlers are shed after the breeding season, from mid-January to about mid-April. Most mature bucks in good condition have lost theirs by the end of February; immature bucks generally lose them a little later. Males and females mix freely while traveling together in groups during winter months, often down to the desert floor. Dominance is largely a function of size, with the largest males, which possess the largest antlers, performing most of the copulations. Deer breed in late November and early December. A buck will find a suitable doe and they will often play chase games at breakneck speeds before mating. They will remain together for several days. When antlers start growing again in the spring, the group breaks up. The females go off by themselves and eventually give birth and nurse their young; the males wander in friendly twosomes or small bands throughout the summer months as antlers grow. From April through June, after about a 400-day gestation period, the doe delivers 3 to 8 young (normally 5). Fawns are born in late May or early June. A doe will usually produce a single fawn the first year she gives birth and then produce twins in following years. The fawn, colored reddish with white spots, weighs about 60 pounds at birth. It must nurse within the first hour and stand within the first 12 hours. During early weeks of life, the fawn sees its mother only at mealtimes for feeding. Spots begin to fade by the end of the first month. They have white camouflage spots and are further protected by having little or no scent. Fawns usually stay with the doe for the first full year.