The whitetail is easily the most recognized big game animal in North America.
But it wasn’t always so. In 1900 there were only 500,000 deer in the country,
but once game laws and hunting licenses were established, using hunter dollars to
manage them brought numbers to over 30 million today. The whitetail is very
adaptable and this is reflected in its feeding habits, browsing and grazing on many
kinds of twigs, grasses, shrubs, fungi, nuts, and leaves. In many areas whitetail
numbers have increased to the point where hunters have difficulty keeping them in
check. They are also now commonly found in towns and cities where they spread Lyme
disease, cause auto collisions, and eat gardens and shrubs, leading to much public
outcry. Hunting deer in West Virginia is a huge job creator and brings over $230
million a year into the state’s economy.
This buck was harvested in Ohio