White-tailed deer
Odocoileus virginianus
Mammal
The most widespread native deer in North America and the dominant large herbivore shaping garden and forest plant communities east of the Rocky Mountains. As selective browsers, white-tailed deer eat the youngest, most tender new leaves and stem tips first, and rely heavily on acorns and other hard mast through autumn and early winter. At the high densities common in much of their range today, sustained browsing suppresses forest understory regeneration and is the central reason deer resistance and browse pressure are recurring design considerations for the woody plants in this catalog.
Conservation
IUCN Red List: Least Concern, with a large and stable to increasing population. Not a conservation concern at the species level; the curation interest is the inverse — managing browse pressure on planted and regenerating vegetation. (The localized Columbian white-tailed deer subspecies, Odocoileus virginianus leucurus, has a separate USFWS listing history and is not the broadly distributed animal described here.)
Plants in the catalog
Fruit plants · 2
Seed plants · 7
White-tailed deer were heavy consumers of fallen chestnuts, which once provided a dependable annual mast crop every fall — unlike oaks, chestnut bore reliably year to year. The blight's elimination of that mast is a documented loss to eastern wildlife forage; deer browse the foliage of young sprouts as well.
White-tailed deer feed heavily on fallen oak acorns through fall and winter; pin oak contributes to the eastern-forest mast that drives deer foraging. (Note the flip side: the same tannins make the acorns and foliage toxic to horses and livestock in quantity.)
Deer browse the fallen acorns heavily in fall and winter; oak mast is a major component of their cold-season diet.
Foliage plants · 19
Deer may browse the foliage of young plants, though the strongly aromatic, oil-rich leaves make California bay far less preferred than many other trees; browse pressure is generally light and the strong scent often deters it.
Deer will browse the soft foliage of young deodar cedars, especially in hard winters when other forage is scarce; browse pressure can damage young trees enough to warrant protection during establishment, though mature trees are largely out of reach.
White-tailed deer browse the foliage of young Florida torreya, and deer browsing is recognized as one of the pressures on the species' few resprouting plants in its native range; young plants in cultivation generally need protection where deer are present.
Deer browse the soft, broad foliage where populations are high; graded plausible as a general browse rather than a documented preference.
White-tailed deer browse Norway spruce foliage, especially on young plants and in hard winters, and also shelter in dense plantings for thermal cover; deer pressure can damage young trees enough to warrant protection during establishment.
Deer will browse the foliage opportunistically; mock-orange is not considered strongly deer-resistant.
Shelter plants · 1
Dense hemlock stands are classic winter 'deer yards' across the northeastern range, providing thermal cover and reduced snow depth; white-tailed deer also browse hemlock foliage, especially in hard winters, sometimes heavily enough to limit regeneration.
Range
Native across most of North and Central America and into northern South America; in North America widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains, plus parts of the Southwest and most of Mexico.