THE DEER FAMILY 



{Cervidm) 



HE Deer family stands next to the Cattle and Sheep family (Bovida) in general 

 utility. The flesh is a valuable food, while the antlers or horns, as well as 

 the skins, are important articles of commerce. Venison was more common 

 than beef on the tables of medieval Europe, and was the flesh most commonly 

 eaten by early settlers and frontiersmen in North America. Its dietetic 

 value is enhanced by the fact that it is especially adapted to invalids who 

 require a nourishing yet easily digested food. 



Except in a few species like the Caribou, adult male Deer have antlers. 

 Although these horns are deciduous, they are solid processes produced from 

 the frontal bone, and have the physical as well as the chemical properties 

 of true bone. They are of two general types — those more or less broad 

 and flat, and those rounded in shape. Those of the flattened type are usually the more 

 massive, but the rounded antlers of the Wapiti are exceptionally heavy. 



Deerhorn has several uses. It produces much gelatin by decoction, the product being 

 like that from most animal substances. The raspings and waste pieces of the horns used 

 in manufacturing knife handles are either made into gelatin or boiled down into size used 

 in cloth manufacture. At one time deerhorn was a prominent source of ammonia. 



The principal use of deerhorn is in the manufacturing of handles for knives, forks, and 

 other instruments. In Sheffield, England, some thirty years ago, about 500 tons of deer- 

 horn were used annually in manufacture. India and Ceylon furnished about four-fifths 

 of this material, while about 100 tons came from European and English deer forests. The 

 500 tons represented the antlers of fully 350,000 Deer of various species. In Europe buck- 

 horn is worked up into many useful articles, as umbrella stands, chandeliers, and ornaments 

 for personal wear. 



The use of deerskins is well known. As tanned and dressed by the American Indians 

 they are manufactured into a variety of useful and ornamental articles. The inhabitants 

 of some of the Indian villages of the North derive a good income from their manufactures 

 of deerskins into moccasins, rackets, toboggans, and other things for sale. Deer hide makes 

 an excellent leather, its value depending upon the size as well as upon the species from which 

 it comes. The skins of Wapiti, for instance, are porous, and the leather does not wear well, 

 while those of the Moose and European Elk are so thick and hard that the leather is said 

 to have resisted musket balls. In Sweden in former times a pair of elk-hide breeches went 

 as a legacy through several generations of peasants. Formerly about 200,000 deerskins 

 from North America were sold annually in the London market. Half of these were skins 

 of the Wapiti. Many were bought for Germany and there manufactured into leggings, but 

 the heavier skins were tanned and manufactured in England. In recent years the export 

 of deerskins from America has fallen ofi^ greatly. 



Deer hair has a peculiar cellular structure, and is used in some parts of the world for 

 stuffing saddles, for which purpose it is especially suited. 



North America is comparatively rich in species of Deer. All of them are valuable food 

 animals, and nearly all have been of great commercial and economic value during the develop- 

 ment of the country. While their commercial importance has been greatly lessened as 

 their numbers diminished, they still play an important part in furnishing food in newly 

 settled parts of the United States and Canada, as well as in feeding the native tribes in the 

 far North. Except in States that have extensive forested areas and have protected deer 

 for a series of years, they are rapidly disappearing before the encroachments of agriculture. 

 The remnant are valuable chiefly because they are a natural resource which may be indefinitely 

 developed if carefully husbanded. David E. Lantz, U. S. Biological Survey. 



