White-tailed Deer at Lange Erlen, 30/08/09

Odocoileus virginianus

I\'d seen Mule Deer when I was in the States, but these were my very first White-tailed, which are incredibly scarce in Europe. We didn\'t see a stag, but there were youngsters so there has presumably been a stag recently (he may well have just been hidden).

That's interesting. I've never heard the term "stag" applied to either of the Odocoileus deer before. For comparison, in the states, the vernacular used for these are "buck" and "doe", while for the wapiti and the moose it is "bull" and "cow".

That would just be European ignorance on my part!

It's very unusual to come across either Odocoileus over here - there are only half-a-dozen or so places with White-tailed (as a rule either in Finland - where I think there are introduced populations to draw from - or in small, lesser-known collections such as this one). To my knowledge, there are no Mule Deer at all in Europe.

So, you see, it doesn't come up much! Lovely animals though.

I would guess mule deer don't do well outside of western North America. I don't think humidity would do them good.

@Ituri, old post I know, but I'd be surprised if they have much of a problem with humidity. Many parts of the Great Plains get plenty humid and they do fine. It's interesting to see what people get excited over seeing. I've had these in my yard.