It has been suggested that I post here as well. I am curious as to whether there are whitetailed deer in other continents than North America? Ya'll got any down there?

Andy

I´ve posted something about hunting them in the Andes high plateaus and I understand that Venezuela has some too.

Central America, and northern South America for sure (Colombia, Venezuela, etc) has a subspecie of white deer.

L

There are eight subspecies of white-tailed deer on the South American continent (and 30 in North and Central America). South America's whitetails are found in Colombia, Venezuela (on the mainland, and on two offshore islands), Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, northern Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.

All of the South American subspecies are small, with some subspecies weighing no more than 40 pounds. The largest weigh about 100 pounds, which would make them about the same size as the Coues and Carmen Mountain whitetails of the American Southwest.

From all I've read about them, there is no fixed breeding season for South American whitetails or, for that matter, the tropical whitetails of southernmost Central America.

Because does come into estrus throughout the year near the Equator, fawns can be born at any time. Males also are affected by the nearness to the Equator, and bucks in that area can be seen at any time of year with antlers ranging from absent to in-velvet to polished.

The effect of translocating deer to south of the Equator is interesting. Red deer, elk, moose, fallow deer, axis deer and sika deer shipped from the Northern Hemisphere to South America, Australia and New Zealand immediately switched from rutting (roaring) in the northern fall to the southern fall.

Why that happens is anyone's guess, but my guess is it has something to do with temperature and available light.

As for other continents, North American white-tailed deer were released as early as 1870 in Europe and New Zealand.

As a result, there now are free-ranging whitetails in New Zealand (two locations, one a small island), Finland, Serbia, the Czech Republic, and on an island off Croatia.

Several New Zealanders also are raising whitetails on enclosed hunting estates.

To my knowledge, whitetails have not been introduced to Asia or Africa. I would not be surprised if a South African game farmer changed that status someday, considering that fallow and axis deer already are being hunted behind wire on farms down there.

Bill Quimby

I asked this question because my ditzy girlfriend keeps insisting that to get better genetics for their game ranch was to bring in the exotic whitetails from New Zealand. I keep trying to tell her thay came from the the Americas to start with but had no proof....supposedly she heard this from some high falutin big spending friend of her father's. Personnally I think the guy is full of shit from the moment I met him.

Andy B
STS

Here's what the SCI record book text says:

"In 1901, two pairs of whitetails were liberated in the Takaka Valley in the northern part of the South Island, New Zealand. There seems to be no record of where these animals were obtained. In 1905, 22 northern woodland whitetails (borealis subspecies) that had been captured in New Hampshire were shipped from the United States, and the 19 that survived that voyage were released in New Zealand: One in the Takaka Valley to join the four previous imports, nine in the Rees Valley at the head of Lake Wakatipu, and nine near Port Pegasus on Stewart Island. The Takaka Valley deer died out, but the other two introductions were successful."

The text was written by naturalist Jack Schwabland of Seattle, a meticulous researcher.

The borealis or northern woodland subspecies, incidentally, is the largest (in body size) of the 38 subspecies of white-tailed deer occurring naturally only in the Americas.

To my knowledge, the deer from the Rees Valley and Stewart Island have never produced antlers of the size this subspecies has produced in its native habitat along the eastern portion of the U.S./Canada border.

As for which whitetail subspecies grows the largest antlers, it's a tossup as to whether it's the ochorourus subspecies (northeastern whitetail) or the borealis subspecies.

If I wanted to improve the genetics of a private herd in Texas, I would introduce breeding bucks or sperm from Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, Alberta or Ontario.

Your texanus subspecies is capable of growing impressive antlers with proper management and habitat, though. The typical super trophy buck from your state may have a smaller body than northern whitetails, but it will have long, slender main beams and tines (and sometimes a great many of them) that are quite distinctive.

Why mess with what nature intended?

Your girlfriend may have confused New Zealand's whitetails with the red deer of that country. The first red deer to be released in the South Pacific came from English deer parks at the turn of the last century. Later, more red deer were imported from western and eastern Europe. With selective breeding, New Zealand deer farmers are now producing red stags with the world's largest antlers.

Judging only by the photos of antlers coming from some enclosed hunting estates in Argentina, I would not be surprised to learn that the estate owners had brought red deer or sperm across from New Zealand to "improve" their herds.

Bill Quimby