Feb. 27, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
335 
Deer Farming in the United States.* 
Concluded from page 285. 
The Virginia, or whitetail, deer (Odocoileus 
virginianus) is the common deer of the United 
States. Including the half dozen geographic 
races that occur within our borders, it is dis¬ 
tributed over most of the country, except 
Nevada and the major portions of Utah, Ari¬ 
zona, Washington, Oregon and California. It 
is extinct in Delaware and practically so in a 
number of States in the Middle West. South 
of our borders a number of closely related 
species occur. 
In view of the wide natural range of the 
whitetail deer, its adaptability to nearly all 
sections of the United States can not be 
doubted. Testimony as to its hardiness in 
parks and preserves is not so unanimous as 
that concerning the wapiti; but the general ex¬ 
perience of breeders is that with suitable 
range, plenty of good water, and reasonable 
care in winter, raising this deer for stocking 
preserves or for venison may be made as profit¬ 
able as any other live-stock industry. Not only 
do deer thrive on land unsuited for cattle or 
horses, but, like elk, they may he raised to 
great advantage in brushy or timbered pas¬ 
tures fully stocked with cattle or horses, as the 
food of deer rarely includes grass. 
Advocates of the Angora goat industry state 
within the United States there are 250.000,000 
acres of land not suited to tillage or to the 
pasture of horses, cattle, or sheep, which are 
well adapted to goats. Much of this land is 
suited also to deer and elk, and can be utilized 
for these animals with less injury to the forest 
cover than would result from its browsing by 
goats. 
Thomas Blagden, of Washington, D. C., be¬ 
gan raising deer in 1874. After an experience 
of over a third of a century he is confident that 
the business can be made profitable. In his 
own herds he has carefully avoided in-breeding 
by securing new bucks from time to time. His 
stock is vigorous and of the large size char¬ 
acteristic of the Adirondack and other Northern 
deer. Consequently the animals are in demand 
for breeding purposes, the bucks bringing $50 
each and the does $75. He feeds grain, using 
corn and a mixture of bran and meal, and dur¬ 
ing the summer cuts as much wild forage as 
possible. The animals prefer the rankest weeds 
to the choicest grass. Of the various kinds of 
hay, they prefer alfalfa. He provides abundant 
water at all times. 
John W. Griggs, of Goodell, la., has been 
engaged in raising deer for about fourteen 
years. Until two years ago he sold all his sur¬ 
plus stock for parks, but since then has disposed 
of about half of it for venison. For park pur¬ 
poses he gets $20 to $30 a head, but they bring 
fully as much or more when fattened for veni¬ 
son. As to management of deer, Mr. Griggs 
writes: 
“In raising a large herd the park should be 
divided into two or three lots, and one plowed 
each year and sown to red clover, mustard, rape, 
and seeds of different kinds of weeds. Blue- 
grass and timothy are useless. Corn is the 
principal grain I feed, winter and summer. In 
tThis fuller notice of D. E. Lantz’s paper, published 
last .summer by the Biological Survey, and noted in 
Forest and Stream of Aug. 29. 1908, is published in 
response to numerous inquiries from readers. 
winter I feed also clover hay, oat straw, and 
weedy wild hay. Deer when rightly handled are 
very prolific, and from fifty does one can count 
on seventy-five fawns. They can be raised 
profitably for venison—very profitably until 
overdone; but I would not advise one to go 
into it on a large scale without previous experi¬ 
ence with deer.” 
C. H. Roseberry, of Stella, Mo., writes: 
“My experience in breeding the common or 
Virginia deer covers a period of seventeen 
years, beginning in March, 1891. From 1891 to 
1901 I lost every year from disease an average 
of 20 per cent. The climax came in the drouth 
year of 1901, when my loss was 50 per cent, 
from the disease known as “black tongue.” I 
CHEVALIER DEL VASO WITH WHOM MR. REEDER 
HUNTED ITALIAN QUAIL. 
am convinced that, like cholera in swine, indi¬ 
viduals recovering from this disease are im¬ 
mune from further attack. Apparently all of 
my herd were afflicted. The survivors and their 
progeny constitute my present breeding stock. 
I have made no purchases since 1901, nor have 
I suffered any loss from disease. 
“For the last seven years my herd has aver¬ 
aged 70 per cent, increase, all of which I have sold 
at satisfactory prices. I began selling at $20 per 
pair of fawns at four months of age and $30 
per pair of adults. I now get $40 and $60, re¬ 
spectively. I sell almost exclusively for pets 
and for propagating purposes, although a few 
surplus bucks have been sold for venison, aver¬ 
aging 15 cents per pound gross weight. 
“If we except the goat, I know of no domestic 
animal common to the farm that requires so 
little feed and attention as the deer. My herd 
has a range of only fifteen acres, two-thirds of 
which are set to white clover, bluegrass, and 
orchard grass. I provide also a small plat of 
wheat or rye for winter pasture. With the 
above provision, in this latitude, no feed is re¬ 
quired between April 15 and Nov. 15. During 
the rest of the year^ a ration of corn, bran, or 
other mill feed somewhat smaller than that re¬ 
quired for sheep, in connection with a stack of 
clover or pea hay to which they have free ac¬ 
cess, is sufficient to keep them in good con¬ 
dition. Deer eat with relish nearly all of the 
common coarse weeds, and for clearing land of 
brush they are, I think, second only to the 
common goat. 
“Probably the greatest expense connected 
with the business of raising deer is the fencing. 
Another item of trouble and expense, when the 
animals are raised for pets, requiring that they 
be handled and shipped alive, is the fact that 
the fawns must be taken from the does when 
ten days old and raised by hand on cow’s milk. 
They are quite easily raised in this way, with 
but slight percentage of loss, but require fre¬ 
quent and careful attention for the first month. 
When they are allowed to run with the does 
their natural wildness can not be overcome, no 
matter how gentle the does may be. 
“I have found the business profitable on the 
lines indicated. I believe they could be profit¬ 
ably bred for venison alone—certainly with less 
trouble and expense, since the fawns would be 
reared by the does and the trouble and ex¬ 
pense of raising by hand would be eliminated.” 
Virginia deer are polygamous, like cattle; 
the rutting season is in November; the period 
of gestation is about seven months, and the 
fawns are born in May or June. Young does 
usually breed when about seventeen rnonths old 
and have but one fawn the first time; afterward 
they commonly produce twins. 
While deer are chiefly browsing animals, in 
captivity they eat nearly every kind of vegeta¬ 
tion, including most kinds of garden stuff. 
They are fond of acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, 
and other mast. Lily pads, leaves, lichens and 
mosses are freely eaten. With plenty of range 
and an abundant variety of plants there need 
be, therefore, no apprehension concerning the 
deer’s food. A good supply of running water 
must be provided, and the animals should have 
access to rock salt. If the browse and pasture 
are scant, a small ration of grain should be fed. 
Of the grains, corn is generally recommended 
as a food; there is no waste, as the deer pick 
up every grain. Coarse hay full of weeds is 
preferable to timothy or other tame hays, ex¬ 
cept alfalfa. Of clover hay, deer usually eat 
the blossom heads greedily, but waste the other 
parts. In winter feeding is necessary every¬ 
where, and in the northern half of the United 
States shelter of some kind should be provided. 
The remarks about castrating elk apply as 
well to the common deer. A number of vigor¬ 
ous bucks, however, must be kept with any 
considerable herd of does, for a single buck 
can not serve an unlimited number. Frequent 
changes of blood by introducing new bucks 
should be practiced to avoid inbreeding. 
Individual owners, as well as associations, 
have established large private preserves in 
many parts of the country and stocked them 
with deer and other big game. The objects 
have been to preserve the animals and to pro¬ 
vide sport for the owners. In the free life 
under the protected conditions generally pro¬ 
vided, deer do remarkably well, the increase 
