Chapters 7.6
7.6- White-Tailed Deer
Mathew Hartman , University of Guelph, Canada
Suggested citation for this chapter.
Hartman,M. (2022) Mammals. In The Student Encyclopedia of Canadian Indigenous Foods. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.firstnationsfoods.org/
Introduction
There are about 43 different species of deer across the entire planet with different species being found on every single continent on earth except for Australia and Antarctica with many species spreading across the world thanks to human transportation (Britannica 2016). Several species of deer can be found in North American which includes caribou, moose, elk, brocket deer, mule deer and white-tailed deer. The following information is going to represent white-tailed deer exclusively with occasional references to other species of deer to compare and contrast.
Overview of white-tailed deer
White tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a fairly common subspecies of deer that are widely spread across most of North America ranging as far north as the Yukon and North West Territories and as far south as Mexico and even outside of North America to just south of the equator in Peru (Waller and Alverson 1973). This species also happens to be the oldest surviving type of deer as the white-tailed deer has been assumed to predate the ice age (Britannica 2020). White-tailed deer can be distinguished from other species of deer in North America (such as mule deer, brocket deer, moose, caribou, and elk) by several factors. Some of these include them having tan-coloured coats in the summer to help camouflage with their typical habitats of dense forest and brush land to a greyish brown colour in the winter to blend in with the lack of leaves and presence of snow (Britannica 2020). One of the best ways to distinguish this species from others is their distinctive white tail, or more accurately their white underside of their tail. These creatures when alerted to danger will raise their tail revealing a bright white underside as a warning system. White-tailed deer are also relatively large at about 53-120cm tall measured at the shoulder with male deer having antlers atop their head and females not having antlers.
Habitats
The habitat of these creatures tends to be in dense wooded areas, brush lands or areas of agricultural use such as farmers’ fields and orchards. Deer habitats and homes are influenced by many factors with the main being access to food sources, frequency of predator interaction, distance to water sources, and concealable cover (such as dense brush and shrubs). It has been widely assumed that a single deer typically occupies a single square mile of space (640 acres) which could be considered its “home” but according to Compton et al it is assumed that many deer can occupy a smaller amount of space or less deer can occupy more space (1988). The assumption of one square mile is typically seen as the average given that if required resources such as food and water are bountiful coupled with plenty of opportunities to hide and be protected by predators, more deer will live in a tighter area. The opposite also occurs in situations with relatively low resources and cover while still being a suitable habitat causing less deer to inhabit these types of areas. Some of the densest white-tailed deer populations can be found around smaller agricultural zones such as small-scale corn fields and orchards. These will typically have a lot of accessible food as well as water near by coupled with relatively dense cover in the form of surrounding forests.
Deer meat and health
Much like cow meat being called beef and pig meat being called pork, deer has its own name for what can be eaten off these creatures and this is called venison. Venison refers to any part of a deer or antelope that can be eaten which includes organs as well as conventional cuts of meat. While baby deer or fawns can be eaten safely and are considered prized by some people, they do not have a distinct name for their meat like cattle have (veal), it is once again blanketed under the name venison. Now how exactly does deer meet compare in nutrition and health to other commercially available meats? A simple comparison to make is what the content of fat is in comparison to a similar animal being beef. It is typically assumed that beef for people to eat have about 28% body fat by the time they are slaughtered and sent to market (Schaefer 2017). The meat that is consumed by the average consumer typically contains 30% fat on the top end and lean ground beef contains about 17% fat. In comparison, deer fluctuate regularly on their total percentage body fat depending on the season where early spring sees deer having very little body fat and when the season nears winter deer have the most amount of fat (Nicholson 2008). On average, white-tailed deer meat typically contains between 3%-7% fat (Hoffman 2006). This factor along makes venison the more nutritious meat when compared to other items like beef. The relatively low-fat percentage in this meat also leads to other beneficial factors such as lower in cholesterol, lower in calories, and still containing many necessary and nutritious vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc, vitamin B, etc.
Collection of deer/hunting methods
Collection and harvesting of deer vary by a certain degree between different environments, indigenous communities, and locations in general. In the past, the most common form of hunting was called stalking. This was a process where an individual or a group of hunters would first find the presence of deer in an area whether that be an actual sighting, footprints, droppings, or sounds. Hunters would then follow the trail of the animal until it can be accurately pinpointed to a given area where the hunters would quietly creep close to or allow the animal to come close to them before striking with bows, spears, or nets (Waselkov 1978). This can typically only be done in extremely large areas of land as hunters might stalk an animal or group of animals for many kilometers and sometimes for several days or weeks. Eventually stalking was phased out due to its long amount of work for sometimes little pay so then came the method of using a drive. A drive involves around 2-300 hunters coordinating in an area where deer are likely to be with either a naturally formed choke point or body of water away from them. What a drive involves is one or more hunters positioning themselves at the “rear” of the hunt which is where they will cause a large amount of noise and fear inducing actions for deer such as screaming, yelling, using predator calls etc. The group will move forward doing this which forces the deer out of hiding and makes them run away from the rear hunters. Deer will then likely find themselves in a narrow passage such as a ravine where more hunters are waiting with weapons such as bows and arrows where they are then killed. If it is a body of water at the end of the drive, then the animals will retreat into the water where hunters on boats will kill the animals and collect them (Waselkov 1978). Modern day hunting methods have changed slightly with some examples of stalking and drives being found every now and then, yet the majority have shifted to using more reliable bows, powerful shotguns, and high-powered rifles with long range scopes. The change has made it so that typically a single person will only take a single deer a year in most situations due to population control and hunting license regulation.
Preparation and consumption across different communities
Once the animal has been hunted, a new process begins with a lot of intensive labor, effort, and skill to turn a freshly harvested deer into edible and non-edible items. What was a typical practice amongst many communities was that a different group of people would be in charge of packing and preparing the meat for transport (Mikkelsen 1909). The hunters would be the ones to remove and clean the organs, but it was usually the women in charge of skinning and breaking down the animal into easily transportable pieces (Hassrick 1964). It’s said that deer were broken down into nine distinct pieces for ease of transport between several people and that nearly the entire animal was used in one way or another, this included the meat itself, skin and fur, bones, marrow, antlers, teeth, brain, eyes, liver, pancreas and more (Clement 1996). Preparations of the meat itself varies quite a lot between different regions and communities. Some of these methods included but were not limited to boiling, roasting, baking, drying, and drying (Kuhnlein 2017). Some of these differences can be seen in groups like the Coast Salish where they consumed deer meat in a variety of ways including steaming, boiling, or roasting (Batdorf 1990). The Coast Salish also made stew out of deer meat and the way this was done was to add chunks of the fresh deer meat into a vessel of water where hot rocks were added to cause a boil, then vegetables and seasonings would be added for additional flavour and substance. Other cooking methods included cooking the meat in its own fat for a fry, roasting chunks on a spit over an open fire, and in the case of the Middle Columbian Salish they preferred to use earth ovens which were heated pits that contained enclosed cooking vessels on top (Miller 1998). Some other groups preferred not to cook the meat at all and instead consumed it fresh such as the Nookta who ate deer this way over dried meat (Drucker 1951). If a deer hunt was particularly successful there is likely to be some leftover meat that was not immediately consumed one way or another. To prevent these leftovers from spoiling a few methods were devised as a form of preservation. These methods included freezing the meat if it was winter/cold enough, drying, and smoking. Typically, drying was the final outcome of all preservation methods as with freezing the temperature was inevitably going to rise again and smoking lead to a dried product in the end just in a different form. Drying required cutting the fresh or frozen meat into long thing strips to be left out in the warm spring/summer/fall sun for several weeks and if it was done where bugs were present, large smokey fires were made to keep them at bay (Densmore 1979).
Conclusion
White-tailed deer are an extremely common and prevalent species of deer in Canada ranging from the southernmost point of this country all the way to the North West Territories. Due to this fact, they are an extremely available source of food for those willing to put the effort into hunting and collecting this creature. Coupled with the fact that deer meat is extremely nutritious, sustainable, and beneficial for our health, it should be considered a preferred source of food that Canadians should be taking more advantage of especially within indigenous communities.
References
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