Whitetail buck in Peru

[archer wapiti]

Whitetails are of course the most widely distributed species of deer in the New World. I was recently in Peru and found this in a schoolhouse in the mountains of northern Peru (Cajamarca department). All of the locals we talked to said there was a lot of deer around, eating their tree seedlings.
Thought you guys might be interested to see. I believe it's a pretty big deer for down there, but maybe somebody can set us straight on that.

 

[Gr8bawana]

When I was a kid we went down to the Yucatan and we saw some whitetail deer that had some tiny antlers and were about the size of a skinny Great Dane. My uncle who lived there said they were very hard to hunt because of the jungle they inhabit.

 

[LuketheDog]

Wow, it's little!

 

[fishing4sanity]

I think I used the same taxidermist.
It would be cool to see them running around. Did you see any live deer? Also, if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in Peru?

 

[archer wapiti]

They are tiny. I'm not sure how they compare to Coues' deer. It's that classic rule in biology - Bergman's rule where animals of the same species at lower latitudes are smaller in body size. I can't imagine hunting them in heavy cover. They jacklight them in rural Belize and I have heard gunshots at night in the lowlands of southeastern Peru. Of course there's a lot more to eat there than just whitetails, so never know what they're shooting at.
This one was up high, near treeline. I would try to get after them up there if I were hunting there. I've never see one. My Peruvian friend in the photo has seen deer when he was standing next to me, but I was never able to pick them out. After seeing my photos of deer and elk I've hunted, he's getting interested in deer hunting and is talking about buying a rifle. I hope he's able to do it.

 

[archer wapiti]

I think I used the same taxidermist.

Dude, I'm in tears. Thanks for the laugh!
I was down there looking for birds.

 

[dihardhunter]

Beautiful antler color!

 

[JungleShooter]

The deer in the jungle regiones of Peru are rather small and stocky.

Friends of mine found(!) a baby deer on a jungle hike whose mother must have gotten shot by some locals.
They brought it to the city and raised it in their backyard.

It was the darnest thing...!

Matthias