Sep
01
which country has larger whitetail deer? Canada or the US?
Byi live in New York and i heard that Canada has whitetail deer that are much larger than the ones here in the US. i just turned 14 and want to get my license this year to go hunting. i want to know this so i know where to hunt for larger deer in the future.
matt t,
also i heard the deer down south have more points but arent as big as the ones farther up north. how much did the deer weigh if u can remember?
8 Comments
September 1st, 2010 at 3:53 am
Canada has larger deer than the US on average. It’s just a matter of survival. To handle the cold temperatures and snow the deer needs to have a bigger body to make it through long winters. Take a trip to Texas and you’ll see smaller deer. The smaller bodies help them dissipate heat better. Deer size vary from state to state with the mid-west having some large deer. Deer that live near farms will also be bigger than mountain deer that have to survive on mast crops such as acorns. Age is also a factor in size. You’ll see big and small deer anywhere you go but on average Canada has the big ones.
September 1st, 2010 at 4:23 am
The Saskachewan (spelling?) are in Canada is know for very large whitetails. There definitely have more large ones, if not bigger ones than we do in NY.
September 1st, 2010 at 4:27 am
it depends where you hunt at.
September 1st, 2010 at 4:29 am
It depends where u hunt. i like to hunt in Iowa because i pulled out a 23 pointer with my bow about 4 years ago and i stay there now. its a matter of giving the deer time to grow. u might see a buck thats about 14 points but then if u wait u can set out trail cams and stalk him until he gets huge. this last season i took out a 17 pointer. so i would say try somewhere in iowa or somewhere else in the U.S. before u go all the way to Canada because u can find bigger buck in the u.s. if u just be patient
September 1st, 2010 at 5:14 am
The general rule is that deer get bigger in colder climates, so Canada has bigger deer than the USA except for maybe Alaska.
September 1st, 2010 at 5:22 am
Porquemo suggests that cold weather equals bigger deer, but this is not the case. By example, Alaska has relatively small deer. The Sitka blacktail deer found up here are quite small when compared with the considerably bigger deer found on the grain fields of Iowa, etc. It really comes down to what the deer have to feed upon and genetics. It takes big and healthy bucks and does to produce big and healthy fawns. In the grain-belt provinces of Canada, deer have access to all or most of the same foods that consistently produce big deer in the lower 48 states. However, Canada does NOT have the numbers of hunters in pursuit of the deer which allows more deer to reach trophy proportions without being taken for table fare. If you want BIG bucks, you have to hunt where deer have better chances of growing old. Canada offers more of that kind of hunting than most states in the U.S. But if I were going out to bag something major, I would go to the local library and ask for the newest copy of the Boone & Crockett Record Book of North American Big Game. Look up “typical” and “non-typical” whitetail deer in the book and see EXACTLY where the biggest bucks in the book came from. You are going to see the midwestern states pop up more than most. Iowa is consistently one of the best producers. When you have totalled up the score, you’ll have a pretty good idea where your hunt should focus. I’m betting it won’t be in Alberta or Saskatchewan, but somewhere closer to home in the good ol’ U.S.A. Good luck and good huntin’…….
September 1st, 2010 at 6:00 am
there is great varaibility depending on the land where the deer live and the genetics of the deer
canadian whitetails in southern canada are going to be the same size as the whiteails you find in michigan, minnesota, wisconson, etc.
now, texas and some other places have much smaller whitetail deer than average. This brings down the average size of all whitetail deer in the USA
However, quit worrying about it, there is MUCH more individual variation between the 20 individiual deer in a herd who live in one area, than there is between a herd of deer here and a herd of deer someplace else
September 1st, 2010 at 6:36 am
There is a scientist that came up with the rule of the further away from the equator a species is the large its body will be to control heat loss. For example in the south deer are smaller so they can let heat excape thier bodys easier and in the north deer need to be bigger to conserve heat through winter. Antler size is all relative to genetics and food.