Deer Nature,
Seasons: The Beginning
However seldom we experience the mountains, trees & rivers; in the Northeast forests of the United States — the traditional lands and hunting grounds of the Onondaga, Tuscarora, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca & Mohawk Nations — white-tailed deer are ever-present year-round.
Foraging endlessly on berries, planted crops and soft, young branches, during the growing seasons, deer focus on twigs, branches and fallen tree nuts during the colder months when fresh growth is harder to find under the frozen blankets of snow.
Natural History
What is a white-tailed deer? Why is their tail white? What are their exciting features? Why can they be so troublesome?
White-tailed deer (Odocioleus virginianus) are a medium-sized deer species endemic to the Northeast United States.
Their bright white tails that flag up in the air when danger is near are one of their key features and the reason for their name. The visual indicator alerts nearby deer and may also communicate to the predator that they've been spotted.
Large fluffy ears, incredibly motion-sensitive vision and a nose that can pick up smells on the wind from far distances, white-tails are keenly aware of their surroundings and all the other critters—wildlife ad human alike. Big Moose Lake, NY.
Their legs are long, thin and hooved—combined with a body built for short, startling sprints—the adult white-tailed deer can easily outrun and out jump most predators or curious humans that wander too close for comfort. Big Moose Lake, NY.
Male (buck) and female (doe) differ strikingly in appearance from one another for part of the year, after bucks grow a set of antlers. They use the pointed racks to attract doe and fight other bucks during an aggressive time of the year known as 'the rut'.
When the rut ends and winter begins, the buck shed their antlers and become harder to distinguish from the doe.
Fawns (newborn and young deer) when first born have a spotted fur pattern that helps keep them hidden in the forests from would be predators.
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Do you venture out before the sun rises in the morning?
Or after it sinks behind the hills at night?
This is when you will find deer at their best.
Animals that are most active at dawn and dusk are called 'crepuscular'.
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The Rut
The leaves turn vibrant shades of red, yellow and orange.
This is when the rut begins.
Bucks, in their quest to mate, relentlessly pursue doe in the hopes they may breed and pass their genes into the next generation.
Constantly aware and ready to chase.
He will not eat, he will not rest.
At the end of the rut, the buck looks like a weathered stranger f his former self.
A buck will scrape branches, vines and trunks of trees.
Rubbing their forehead—where a scent gland is located—on the spot of interest in hopes to communicate their readiness to mate.
He picks up her scent and frantically yet quietly trails her.
She is not ready to mate—he must wait.
He waits and waits hoping other bucks miss the smells of the doe on the wind.
She spooks and runs through the brush, out of sight of the buck.
He stands in disbelief, he lost his chance and must try again somewhere else.
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When the season is done and the woods become quiet, the deer herds welcome the years new fawns to the world.
Small and ever curious, yet skittish, they grow and grow and grow from the rich milk their mother provides. Big Moose Lake, NY.
Fawns may venture, but never very far from their mother. Wake Forest, NC.
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Have you sat quietly in the cool dark woods? Ferns as your cushion, trees as your roof?
Deer dwell here.
There is plenty to eat and little to fear.
Ecological Concerns
Deer are habitat generalist. They are well adapted to surviving and thriving in a diverse range of ecosystems—natural and human made.
Humans take from nature.
Sometimes with grace, other times with greed.
As habitat generalists, deer thrive on disturbance, but how much is too much?
Logging equipment in Tuller Hill State Forest, Cortland, NY. Forests like Tuller Hill are actively managed for timber by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Per the DEC's website "...the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) sells standing timber from State Forests. The timber is marked by DEC foresters and then sold to the highest responsible bidder through a public, competitive bidding process."
As humanity pushes into nature, nature pushes into humanity.
Is there a meeting ground where both will thrive?
Pictured: A jogger runs down a dirt road next to a foraging deer, unbothered by the close proximity. In areas of high human-deer interaction deer are usually encouraged to be nearby because of gardens, bird feeders, or other available human-provided resources that are easy to find and consume or because the area is free of hunters year-round, creating a safe-haven for the animals. Raquette Lake, NY.
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Roads are convenient for car travel and commerce.
They too make great corridors for the white-tail and other critters.
In the fall and early winter months when deer are on the move, the deer rarely win against the machines.
The more their populations grow the more humans see them as a problem.
This leads to situations where the deer are not intended to benefit.
A small group of deer cross a rural road in Scott, NY.
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To some people, deer are pests.
This makes them feel that deer are free for the taking.
Poaching deer, even though there are yearly hunting seasons, is common.
The decapitated head of a young deer lays on the side of the road outside of the city of Cortland, NY at a time that was off-season for deer hunting. Poachers remove the head and discard it to help reduce the chances of them being caught.
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Scientists are concerned that there are too many deer in the region's forests. Their big appetites cause them to over-browse on freshly sprouted woody plants. When the old plants die, the deer have left no new ones to take their place.
The forests are changing.
Photo of young vegetation that has been recently eaten by deer. Cortland, NY.
Healthy forests have tall impressive trees, but they also have small young trees and a vast array of small plants that call the floors of the forests home. All of these organisms lead to a diverse, healthy forest.
When there are too many deer, the forest floors become bare of diversity, leaving only the few plants that the deer won't eat.
But why are there so many deer?
A region of the forests floor covered only in grasses. Monocultures such as this can be indicative of over browsing by species such as deer. Cortland, NY.
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When Europeans settled in the area of the Northeast, they brought livestock with them.
Gray wolves—once a widespread apex predator—saw the cows, goats and sheep as easier meals than the deer they were used to hunting.
Humans decided that the region and their livestock would be better off if the wolves were no longer around.
Photo courtesy of the Cortland County Historical Society.
When gray wolves were extirpated from the region the deer no longer had predators to keep their populations at healthy levels.
This void, along with human-caused development and disturbances to forest ecosystems, have lead the way to the worrisome deer numbers we see today.
Biologists like Larry Klotz PH.D. have taught many students about these problems using a taxidermied gray wolf that was shot and mounted by his great uncle, Joseph S. Evans, sometime between 1910-1920. Cortland, NY.
Cultural Significance
White-tailed deer have a cultural significance to the Native American tribes of the Northeast: the Onondaga, Tuscarora, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Mohawk Nations.
They are also an important food source for many; hunting provides a strong connection between members of families and their greater communities.
What happens after the hunt? How does a deer turn into usable food? How are deer accounted for? How do skilled craftspeople turn dead deer into heirloom works of art?
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Counting
After hunters journey out into the forests and return from a successful hunt, many of the deer go to a meat processor.
Here the deer are butchered into cuts of meat that the hunter wants. Sometimes the hunter wants parts of the deer—namely the antlers and the head—saved for mounting at a taxfdermist.
Many of these businesses work closely with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) field technicians whose most important jobs are to sex, age and determine the location of harvest of the deer that come to be butchered.
These data are used to help the DEC determine the populations and demographics of the deer across the state.
Two field technicians look at data collected at one deer processor.
The deer are not always as beautiful as they were in the wild. Hung upside down in the yard, limbs piled nearby. There's not much valuable meat in the legs, and they just get in the way.
Some facilities are small and family run, only butchering a small number of deer per day.
Others are intricate and process many—almost like a disassembly line.
No matter the type of facility DEC field technicians travel to and maintain important relationships with these shops.
Informed decisions based off data are decisions that help humans and deer alike.
After the meat is rendered, sometimes arts of the deer are sent to skilled craftspeople to be turned into trophies—monuments of the hunt.
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Taxidermy
A skilled taxidermist, Kersten practices his craft full-time.
As different hunting and fishing seasons come and go throughout the year, he has the motivational supply and creative talent for a year-long demand.
Deer season keeps Kersten particularly busy. As he works on one client's deer, another knocks on the door of his studio to drop off their deer for mounting—his phone rings constantly.
The knowledge and pasion that Kersten displays shows through in his work.
Kersten works on the hide of a clients deer in his home studio. Syracuse, NY.
Forms of different size and pose are chosen for the deer and kept in mind throughout the creative process.
The Form
Draped over the form, then pulled snug for a test fit. The work of the taxidermist becomes more realized.
Shining eyes and the deers true antlers are joined to the fur and form.
Details are scanned over.
Just a little more.
After extra work a deer like this is what will be.
The deer is back.
Eternally.
The shoulder mount is not the only desire. To some, the European mount is more exciting.
Techniques held close to the heart allow Kersten to return the head of a deer to its most basic form.
After careful removal of all flesh.
All that is left is pure white bone and antlers.
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Tenacious
Deer are incredibly persistent.
Kersten pointed to this old arrow wound through the hide of the neck of this deer.
It was shot, survived, healed and thrived until being successfully hunted possibly years later.
Kersten says that finding old wounds like this and worse is not uncommon.
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Captive Herds
In the city of Cortland, NY, there is a herd of deer that lives above an aquifer.
This herd has been a beloved part of the community since the 1940's.
Many community members young and old visit the Cortland Water Works herd daily.
Some come on their lunch breaks, others bring their children over after school to learn about wildlife
These three men are responsible for the care of the deer and the public education around their management and upkeep.
(From left to right) Chief Water Systems Operator, Matt Wethje, Cortland City Chief of Police, Paul Sandy, and retired water department employee, Mike Dexter.
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