Columbian White-tailed Deer

Odocoileus virginianus leucurus

Description

The graceful Columbian white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus leucurus, is one of 38 recognized subspecies of the white-tailed deer, O. virginianus. It grows to a mature height of about 3.75 ft (1.1 m) at the shoulder and a length of about 6 ft (1.8 m). Males can weigh up to 400 lbs (180 kg), while females are much smaller at 250 lbs (114 kg). Adults are white below and tawny above in summer and blue-gray in winter. Fawns have a white-spotted reddish coat that persists for about 14 weeks. The tail is conspicuously white. Antlers have erect unbranched tines rising from the main beam.

Behavior

The white-tailed deer browses on a variety of grasses and forbs, leaves and fruits, and tree bark. Breeding peaks in November, producing fawns in late June after a gestation period of about 210 days. Typically, one or two fawns are born per doe each season.

Habitat

This subspecies prefers wet prairie and lightly wooded bottomlands, or tidelands, along streams and rivers. Woodlands are particularly attractive to the deer when interspersed with open tracts of grasslands and pastures. The plant communities for the two distinct subpopulations vary somewhat. Along the Columbia River, Sitka spruce, dogwood, cottonwood, red alder, and willow are predominant. Undergrowth consists of fescue, orchard grass, clover, bluegrass, velvet grass, buttercup, and ryegrass. In inland habitats, along the Umpqua River, the tree community consists of Oregon white oak, madrone, California black oak, and Douglas fir with a shrubby ground cover of poison oak and wild rose. Grasses are orchard grass and velvet grass. Temperatures are mild during winter, and snow cover is of brief duration.

Distribution

This subspecies was once abundant in the low and moist prairie habitat of the Willamette River Valley of Oregon and northward across the Columbia River in the wooded river valleys of southern Washington. The population once numbered in the tens of thousands.

Two distinct populations of Columbian white-tailed deer are known: the Columbian River population on both banks of the river in Clatsop County, Oregon, and Wahkiakum County, Washington; and the Roseburg population in Douglas County near the town of Roseburg. The Roseburg population is larger, numbering between 2,000 and 2,500 animals. The Columbia River population numbered between 300 and 400 animals in 1983.

Threats

The primary cause of Columbian white-tailed deer decline has been conversion of prairie habitat to crops and pasture. Prairie land has been cleared of protective undergrowth to support livestock grazing. Forests have in some places been intensively logged, degrading the quality of the habitat. Along the Columbia River, flooding is a constant danger. Spring floodwaters are held in check by a series of aging earthen dikes. The collapse of one of these dikes during the 1980s inundated more than 1,400 acres (567 hectares) of habitat for more than two years.

Many deer succumb each year to vehicular traffic, poaching, and entanglement in barbed wire fences. Foot rot and stomach worms are also common in the Columbia River population. At Rose-burg, the primary threat is residential development, particularly along the North Umpqua River.

Conservation and Recovery

The Columbian White-Tailed Deer National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1972 and comprises 4,800 acres (1,942 hectares) along the northern bank of the Columbia River near the town of Cathlamet. The refuge is managed to preserve deer habitat. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides consultation services to local governments, landowners, and developers to ease developmental impacts on deer. The Nature Conservancy has been working to establish conservation easements with landowners within the deer's habitat in Douglas County, Oregon.

Contact

Regional Office of Endangered Species
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Eastside Federal Complex
911 N.E. 11th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97232
http://pacific.fws.gov/

References

Davison, M. A. 1979. "Columbian White-Tailed Deer Status and Potential on Off-Refuge Habitat." The IUCN Red Data Book, Morges, Switzerland.

Suring, L. H., and P. A. Vohs, Jr. 1979. "Habitat Use by Columbian White-Tailed Deer." Journal of Wildlife Management 43 (3):610-619.