Deer Update

Odocileus virginianus - the North American whitetail deer - is a remarkably adaptable creature.  A true survivor. In pre-settlement times the deer population of Wisconsin was much smaller than it is today.  And it was about to get smaller.   The fur trade and later subsistence hunting and market hunting reduced deer populations to their lowest levels in modern history. Then a curious thing happened. Following the great cut-over of Wisconsin's old growth forest and the later collapse of farming in many northern Wisconsin counties a younger forest emerged.  And with it the population of deer rebounded. Thanks to a combination of forest succession, the species' polygamous breeding habits and scientific game management it is estimated that the Wisconsin deer herd today is four times that of the early 1960s.

You might be asking yourself why the deer in the photo looks so scruffy and mangy. The animal does not have a skin disease.

Hormonal changes bring about a molting process twice a year and deer alternately grow a faded gray coat consisting of longer guard hairs and replace it with the rusty-colored roan coat of summer. The summer coat will only last about three months before the critter begins to regrow the extra layer of longer, stiffer, hollow hair over the softer hair closer to the skin.

Until the transition is complete the local whitetails are going to continue looking a bit raggedy.