Panic frightened deer

[Okanagan]

About sun up I was driving the paved county road near our house when I saw five deer fleeing across a little pasture and into the woods beyond.  As I caught up with them they were scattered from 25 to 50 yards to my left, racing through timber beside me as I passed them.  I drove on another 200 yards, and when the road bent to the left, four deer raced across the road ahead of me and ran out of sight beyond.

The strangest part was that they had their tails straight up wagging them just like a whitetail.  I don't think I've EVER seen a blacktail put his tail up like that.  Several men I talked with at church had never seen a blacktail run with his tail up like that, but one of them had one time.

Nobody in the neighborhood has dogs that run free, and the deer here are so tame that they stand 20 feet off the road and watch us drive past.  They have made peace with whatever dogs might be in the area.  No deer seasons are open.  I've never seen deer around here run that hard nor that far.

I was a DUMMY not to look back when I first saw the deer to see what was chasing them.  A timbered creek ravine runs parallel to the road.  Lions and bears travel that regularly and I suspect that a cougar was what frightened the deer.  Wish I could back trail them but it is all smallish patches of private land.  There may be a cougar kill out there a few hundred yards from my house.  Doggone.

[Hawks Feather]

Living here in Ohio we see whitetails running with their tails up all the time. Usually it is as they cross the road when you are going 50 and they time it perfectly so that you get a new front end or sometimes new doors on your vehicle.

[nastygunz]

BIGFOOT!

[Okanagan]

BIGFOOT!

You nailed it! 

I never thought of Bigfoot.  That's my problem, not thinking quick enough to look for what was chasing them.

I know that to see a deer running is not unusual-- but it is extremely unusual in our sleepy neighborhood with half tame deer.  I'd like to talk with a biologist about the tail raised thing.  Normal for whitetails, but very unusual for blacktails around here.

A couple of other times I did not look to see what was chasing something till too late.  One of my last hunts in Canada I was driving a narrow brush walled lane when a cow moose came around a tight bend head on and almost ran over me.  I thought that she was going to jump over my Suzuki but she skidded and wheeled around, almost touching my front bumper, and ran the other way.  I never thought to look for what she was runnning from.

Ditto for a half dozen mule deer one time near Wenatchee, WA.  I was driving one side of a big grassy canyon when I saw the deer runnning full tilt across the canyon from me.  They ran 300 yards till they came to a rocky knob on the mountainside. Then all 6 or so of them formed a circle on the little knoll, rumps together and heads facing out in all directions.  They were probably 350 yards from me and very tense as I watched them for awhile with binos, scanning in all directions for some kind of danger.  They ignored me and my vehicle.  Why didn't I glass the open grassy draw they had come out of when I first saw them?  Duh!

One time I got it right.  In January snow a short yearling mule deer doe ran panting into our camp as we cooked breakfast.  She stopped and hung around within 15 or 20 yards.  I backtrailed that one, found where a BIG bobcat had jumped it nearby and chased it to the ege of our camp.  I called in the cat and saw it twice but given my sterling ability to mess up a sure thing, did not get a shot at it.

[nastygunz]

"Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus, Fig. 2) are our most common deer subspecies. They occur from the crest of the Cascades west to the ocean, preferring brushy, logged lands and coniferous forests.
Many of the physical characteristics of black-tailed deer are similar to those of the larger mule deer.

The tail is broader and the backside of the tail is covered with dark brown hair that grades to black near the tip. When alarmed or fleeing from danger, the tail may be raised, displaying the broad, white underside.

Adult black-tailed deer bucks weigh 140 to 200 pounds and adult does weigh 90 to 130 pounds."

[nastygunz]

https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/living_with_deer.pdf

[Okanagan]

"Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus, Fig. 2) ...

Many of the physical characteristics of black-tailed deer are similar to those of the larger mule deer.

The tail is broader and the backside of the tail is covered with dark brown hair that grades to black near the tip. When alarmed or fleeing from danger, the tail may be raised, displaying the broad, white underside.

Adult black-tailed deer bucks weigh 140 to 200 pounds and adult does weigh 90 to 130 pounds."

The source cited above is describing the so called "blacktail" deer of northern California and into southern Oregon.  They are NOT the same as deer farther north, such as here in Clallam County, Washington State, despite what the source credits for Washington.

Our deer average smaller, have a BLACK tail, not a brown one with black tip. It is rare for a northen real blacktail to hold its tail erect when it runs.   I have lived among and hunted both.  The California deer should not be in the same recond book as real rain forest blacktails.    

[Okanagan]

A doe with two fawns that has lived around our house and garden all year only had one fawn with her this morning...

[FinsnFur]

No blacktails here. I cant help.
But speaking of BigFoot

[nastygunz]

We dont have any blacks here but bears 😇

[Okanagan]

Well, I gotta admit that there is a range of color and body/tail shape from one end of official blacktail range to the other.

 The ones in southern Califoria look like a smaller version of mule deer.  The color and especially shape of tail/rump patch changes in the deer the farther north they are in that range, and a little bit east to west in each state.  The far north blacktails don't look like the ones from the southern end of their range.

  A lot of northern hunters (like me) disagree with having our  "real" black tails lumped with the scaled down mule deer in California. 

[Hawks Feather]

You must not listen to the democrats in CornHoleCalifornia. EVERYTHING is better there than anywhere else - even the deer.