White-tailed deer inhabit most of Southern Canada and all the mainland United States except two or three states in the west (Odocoileus, 2003; Royo, 2005). They also range throughout Central America to Bolivia. They can be found in both temperate and tropical habitats. White-tailed deer can survive in several types of terrestrial habitats, from big woods in northern Maine to the deep saw grass and hammock swamps of Florida, including farmlands, brushy areas and desolate areas in the west including the cactus and thornbrush deserts of southern Texas and Mexico. The ideal habitat for these deer contains dense thickets in which to hide and move about, and edges which provide them with food.
White-tailed deer vary in weight from 57 kg to 137 kg, are 150 to 220 cm in length, and from 80 to 100 cm high at the shoulder (Odocoileus, 2003). Their fur is generally greyer in winter and redder in summer, and they have white fur in a band behind the nose, in circles around the eyes, inside the ears, over the chin and throat, on the upper insides of the legs and beneath the tail. They have scent glands between the two parts of the hoof on all four feet. Males have antlers, which are shed from January to March and grown again in April to May, losing their velvet in August or September.
At birth, fawns have white spots and weigh between 1.5 and 2.5 kg (Odocoileus, 2003; Ohio, 2003; Royo, 2005). By the first winter, their coats become gray and lose theirs spots. White- tailed deer have excellent eye sight and hearing, but rely on their sense of smell to detect danger. Males usually mate in the second year, but females may mate as early as seven months of age. Males are polygamous, but may stay with a female until she reaches oestrous. Females are seasonally polyoestrous, and mating occurs from October to December, with gestation lasting roughly six and a half months. A female usually has one fawn in the first litter, but may hav...