The subject about turkeys got me thinking about this.

Are there deer on the mainland of Alaska. I know many, many Islands have deer but are there any on the mainland.

I would think maybe near Cordova, Yakutat, Wittier, Valdez or Seward?

I have not heard any convincing comments on this.

We have deer on the mainland in SE.

Quite a few are taken around Wrangell.

A few are taken east of Ketchikan in the Misty Fjords.

I have heard of a few Mule Deer taken over there (misty fjords) in the past. I would not doubt if there were some Benchleg (mule / blacktail cross) bucks over there. I have seen a couple of real nice bucks while Goat hunting. And do see some sign every Goat hunt usually.

I have heard of Mule Deer taken out of Hyder in the past also.

There are limited populations on the mainland in some places. I know there are some deer around Juneau, also I've seen shed antlers in the Pt Howard/Couverden area and Excursion Inlet. A fish and game biologist told me there have been sightings around Haines and even on the Kenai Peninsula.

There are verified sightings around Anchorage, as well.

Hopefully they'll gain a foothold and spread

dave

In Southeast it makes sense.

But Anchorage, that is a few hundred miles up the inlet. Maybe the deer caught one of those crazy boar tides in cook inlet and rode the wave .

I always thought the mat valley would be a good place for deer except for all the damn dogs on the loose.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing them in the valley!

Here's a story from the ADN, last November:
Anchorage Deer

Thanks Alaskan thats what I was looking for.

I wonder where they start their mainland journey to anchorage. Maybe they take a shortcut through the wittier tunnel. Those deer dont need no stinking tunnel they can just go over the mountains . I forgot that PWS is only one mountain pass from turnagain.

I wish some whitetails would get loose in the interior.They would do awesome ,I think.I heard two elk bugles about 10 miles away from elk farm.They would do awesome in the interior.If chickens,pigs and cows can run around at -50 so can deer and elk.I thought they would have big heated barns for animals but they dont.I have heard of deer around the bay at Valdez.

The problem isn't so much low temps as lack of food. The deer do well on the islands due to the proper browse, but, when there is a heavy snowfall that covers up their food sources, there is a massive die off.

A friend of mine's son saw a deer last week near McHugh Creek State park. Even though we have had a difficlt winter, it seemed to be in good shape.