COMMON NAME (S): Whitetail deer

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Odocoilues virginianus

CLASSIFICATION: Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae

DESCIPTION: Length: 5 to 6.5 feet/1.5 to 2 meters (including tail)
Height at the shoulder: 3 to 3.5feet/0.9 to 1 meter
Weight: 100 to 300 pounds/45 to 135 kg.
General: The summer coat is reddish-brown and the winter coat is bluish-brown to grayish-brown. The underside of the long tail, the rear hip area and the hair around the meta-tarsal glands are white. The antlers of the mature buck are an arrangement of shorter tines situated along a larger main shaft with a prominent brow tine.

RANGE: North America

HABITAT: Forests, forest edges, swamps and deserts.

STATUS: General: Secure; Increasing
WA State: Secure; Increasing

DIET: The diet consists primarily of leaves, buds, twigs, forbs and any available grasses.

REPRODUCTION: The breeding season extends from November through December. The gestation period is about 6 1/2 to 7 months. Generally, the female gives birth to 1 fawn at the first pregnancy and twins thereafter. At birth, fawns weigh about 7lbs/3 kg each.

LIFE SPAN: ranges to about 10 years

BEHAVIOR: Whitetail maintains small territories and utilizes well worn trails. The buck stakes out a territory during the rut by: pawing a bare spot on the ground; scent marking twigs and branches with face gland secretions or saliva; and scraping the bark from tree trunks with his antlers. These markers are a warning to other bucks and attract does in estrus. Whitetail flee to avoid danger and signal their alarm by "flagging" – lifting their tail to expose the white hairs of the rump. They may snort and whistle through their noses and will stamp the ground to set up alarm vibration that is felt by other deer.

SOURCES: Whitetail Deer of North America – Wildlife Mng. Inst.
World of the Whitetail – L. L. Rue
Sportsman's Guide to Game Animals – L.L. Rue
Lives of Game Animals - Seton