The rise and fall – and rise again – of white-tailed deer

By: Elic Weitzel, Smithsonian Institution, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: December 24, 2025

Words: 1,102

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 3 days ago

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By Elic Weitzel, Smithsonian Institution

Given their abundance in American backyards, gardens and highway corridors these days, it may be surprising to learn that white-tailed deer were nearly extinct about a century ago. While they currently number somewhere in the range of 30 million to 35 million, at the turn of the 20th century, there were as few as 300,000 whitetails across the entire continent: just 1% of the current population.

This near-disappearance of …

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