Black-tailed Deer

Facts

Here in California scientist call me Odocoileus hemionus, but you might know me as a mule deer or my more precise name is a black-tailed deer. I am only found in along Pacific Coast. Here are some interesting facts you might like to know:

Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordate
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammilla
Order: Artiodactila
Suborder: Ruminantia
Family: cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: Odocoileus
Species: hemionus
Scientific Name: Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

General Appearance:
I am Reddish brown in the summer and light gray-brown in the winter. I have a white muzzle and eye rings that contrast with my black nose and eyes. My ears are large and mule-like. I have a stocky body, with long, slim, sturdy legs. In summer, we bucks develop antlers: two upward-angled beams fork twice into a total of four points per beam. I live in the coastal ranges, and I am smaller and darker than my sierran counterpart. The top of my blackish tail merges with my dark back. I run with a stiff-legged, bounding gait. If you want to see a picture of me look up above.

Size:
I am a medium-size deer.
My average full-grown size is:
Height 3’4”
Length 7’
Thickness 8”
Weight: 110–475 lb
...with my female counter parts slightly smaller.

Habitat:
I like to live in forests, mountains, foothills, meadows, and sagebrush.
In mountainous areas, I migrate up and down seasonally to avoid heavy snows.
I am also a good swimmer, so you may find me near water.

Mating/Reproduction:
I mate between October and January. After gestation of six or seven months, my mate will have one or two young between June and August. My newborn(s) will weigh about eight pounds and will be spotted.
A first-year doe produces a single fawn, while an older doe usually has twins.
We bucks are polygamous and seek out does in estrus, sometimes trying to herd them. A male may breed with most does in his area, and a doe probably breeds with several males.
.

Diet:
In summer, I forage chiefly on herbaceous plants, but also blackberry, huckleberry, salal, and thimbleberry. In winter, my diet includes twigs of Douglas fir, cedar, yew, aspen, willow, dogwood, serviceberry, juniper, and sage. I also like acorns and apples.

Predators:
Mountain lions and wolves are my major natural predators. Bobcats and bears take a few of us, and coyotes tend to prey on the juveniles. Others of us are killed by trains and automobiles. Humans prize us as trophies and for our flesh, and we are hunted because of it. Some times, we get the back by damaging crops and timber.

When can you find me?
You can find me morning, evening, and on moonlit nights, year-round. I am mostly nocturnal.

Social Groups:
We often form herds of both sexes in winter, but herds are seldom large. The usual social group consists of a doe with her fawn or a doe with twin fawns and a pair of yearlings. When doe’s encounter each other, they often fight, so family groups space themselves widely, thereby helping to ensure food and cover for all. We bucks are solitary, but sometimes we band together before and after the rutting season. We have larger home ranges than doe’s; during the rutting season, both bucks and doe’s may leave their home range. Displays and threats often prevent actual conflict between bucks, but vigorous fights do occur, in which each tries, with antlers interlocked, to force down the other’s head. Even in such battles, injuries are rare; usually the loser withdraws. However, if antlers become locked, both animals perish through starvation.

Journal

A day in the Life of a Black-tailed Deer...

I woke up early this morning to get a head start on all the other deer and to stay away from those pesky humans. I live way back in Poly Canyon, so it is a bit of a hike down to my favorite meadow behind those tall, funky colored buildings at the edge of the core campus. When I got out there, I was disappointed to find a bunch of other males. One of the scrawnier bucks tried to eat near the patch I was grazing on, so naturally, I had to show him who’s boss. After a short skirmish, he gave up before I really got angry. Some of the ladies were watching and liked what they saw. One of them was in estrus so we found a quiet place to do our business in peace. After we were done, I went to find a place to bed down for the day. I found a nice tall patch of grass to hang out in until the afternoon. When it started to get dark, I went over to highway 1 to play with the running beasts. One of them almost caught me but I took swift action and it barely missed. It is really annoying when they make that loud sound, so I got tired of playing and went to go check out what crops the agies were growing for me at the Student Experimental Farm (SEF). When I got there, they had made the fence higher but not high enough for me. I scaled the fence only leaving a little tuff of hair behind, which is not a bad trade off for the awesome organically grown food they have there. I started with some of the twigs off the bushes, and then moved onto some of their luscious green vegetables, and I finished with some ripe strawberries. I complete my three part, buffet style meal, and I made the journey back up Poly Canyon. I went to sleep tonight feeling really good about my accomplished day.

Tracks:

Here is what my fore print and hind print look like:

Male Prints: 3 1/4" (80 mm) long
Female: 2 3/8" (60 mm) long
Walking Stride: 22–24" (550–600 mm)

--I have herd they resemble narrow split hearts, with the pointed end forward, but they look like hoofs to me. Our tracks are smaller and narrower than those of Elk and Moose, but to the untrained eye, they are not distinguishable from White-tailed Deer. I have a distinctive bounding gait, with all 4 feet coming down together, fore feet printing ahead of hind feet.

Jokes
Sent in by Jeff Schaefer
http://www.whitetails.com/humor91.html

Two guys are out hunting - Rated - G

Two guys are out hunting when one of them shoots a big 14 point buck, " IT'S THE BIGGEST SET OF ANTLERS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE ! " says one man.

The other guy is speechless , and finally agrees " IT IS THE BIGGEST RACK EVER! ".

So they gut the deer out and got it ready to pull it out of the woods. They each grab one hind leg of the deer and proceed to drag the deer out. They were having the worst time trying to drag the big deer out of the thick covered woods, the antlers were catching on everything.

So they stopped to take a rest and one guy said to the other. " We need to try dragging this deer out differently ", the other guy agreed, so they finally each grabbed one antler each and proceeded.

About a hour and a half later, one said to the other; " Man this is working allot better this way."

The smarter one of the two said " YAA IT IS A LOT BETTER, BUT AREN'T WE GETTING A LOT FARTHER FROM THE TRUCK ?"

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The old buck and young buck - Rated - PG

Their was this old buck and a young buck standing on top of a ridge overlooking a lush meadow. Grazing in the meadow below were about 20 unsuspecting doe.

The young buck said to the old buck "Why don't we run down to the meadow and mate with one of those doe".

The old buck turns to the young buck and replied "Why don't we walk down to the meadow and mate with them all".

Moral of the story "With age comes wisdom".

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Man and wife at the big horn show - Rated - PG

A man takes his wife to the Big Horn show. As they strolled through the show enjoying sites they noticed a seminar on the life cycle of the deer. They thought that this sounded interesting so they went in and joined the seminar already in progress.

About that time the speaker stated that "A dominant buck may mate 100 or more times in a single season."

His wife's mouth drops open and says, "WOW! 100 times in a season, that's more than once a day! You could really learn from these deer."

The man turns to his wife and says, "Raise your hand and inquire if it was 100 times with the same doe."