White-tailed Deer

Oh, the conundrum of the white-tailed deer! On the one hand they are beautiful, gentle, entertaining creatures that we love seeing on a nearly daily basis in the fields and forests of Calder. On the other hand they are destroyers of the forest, mowing down any new tree shoots that pop up and therefore inhibiting the regeneration of the forest. As long as their numbers are kept in check (by hunters, in lieu of an abundance of natural predators) they are a valuable part of the ecosystem though, providing much needed protein to a variety of wildlife from hunters like bears, coyotes and bobcats to scavengers such as foxes, eagles and vultures. And for us they provide hours of entertainment as we watch them growing up from fun-loving fawns ripping around the fields to become the sweet does and the majestic bucks that are a constant feature of life in the Calder wilds.

Their name comes from the white underside of their tails which they flick up when alarmed to alert nearby deer of possible danger. You can usually hear them make a barking-like noise at the same time before they bound off into the forest, upright tails flashing white as they flee. It’s a beautiful thing to watch them leaping through the woods, it’s quite amazing how fast they can go and high they can jump. They can easily outrun any predators, who subsequently rely on surprise and ambush tactics to take them down. Only the wily coyotes stand a chance to run them down and then only if they hunt in packs and slowly tire the deer out until they can go in for the final kill. It’s a dog-eat-deer-world out here!

Their start in life is a fascinating and precarious time. Even though the fawns are born able to stand they are still quite wobbly on their new legs and as yet unable to keep up with their mothers. So, as soon as she has cleaned them, off she leaves them for 4-5 hours as she goes off to forage, drawing attention away from them. It sounds counter-intuitive but the fawns innately know the safest thing to do is to hunker down in the long grass and wait for her to return. This spring we were lucky enough to see this in action as a doe dropped her fawn very close to the house and left it there for about 5 hours. Even knowing this was normal it was still a nail-biting afternoon for us, the fawn being so small and vulnerable and the perfect meal for any opportunistic predator that might come along. Thankfully, this time at least, none did and we were able to watch the very touching reunion when the doe returned and the happy fawn drank thirstily before they headed off into the forest together. It was a real treat to see this Nat Geo moment played out so close to us! 

It’s also a fun spectacle to see the young bucks come of age and grow their first set of antlers, usually only small spikes when they are younger but it is impressive the size of the rack they can grow as they get older. Nutrition and genetics also play a big part in how large and how many points they can achieve but generally the older the buck the bigger the rack. And, in the deer world anyway, size does matter! When it comes to a head to head sparring match between competing bucks, out to impress the ladies and win superiority in the mating rights, a bigger rack can do some real damage when two full-grown bucks come to blows. Most of the sparring matches we see are between the younger bucks, facing off in friendly practice rounds, fairly harmless but an opportunity for them to learn some valuable skills for when the time comes to take on the big boys. 

When the antlers are growing they are covered in velvet, a skin-like tissue that supplies blood and nutrients needed for growth. The bucks scrape this off when the antlers reach their full size ready for the mating season. The rutting season sends the bucks into a kind of mad frenzy, barely eating or resting as they try to mate with as many does as they can. It’s a time of year when we have to be extra careful on the roads as these obsessed bucks will be oblivious to everything except the smell of a doe in heat and, sadly, the number of roadkills skyrockets during this time. Then, after all the does have been impregnated and life returns to normal, the antlers become an unnecessary burden and they will fall off. A new rack will be grown the following year, hopefully bigger and more impressive as each year passes!

We do enjoy living so closely with these elegant ungulates, who range from being very skittish with us to very tolerant of our close proximity, and it’s fun to see them grow and their behaviours change through the different seasons. If you would like a little snapshot of these beautiful creatures doing their thing, undisturbed, below is a video compilation of some moments caught by our trail cameras. Enjoy :-)