Few mammals are more thoroughly recorded in Alabama than the white-tailed deer. Its 3,091 records touch all 67 counties, from Madison and Jefferson in the north through Pike and Lee in the central belt to Baldwin on the Gulf Coast, a map of a deer that fills essentially every habitat the state offers.
An edge animal in a forested state
The whitetail is a creature of edges, feeding where forest meets field or opening and retreating to cover by day, and Alabama’s patchwork of hardwood ridges, pine plantations, river bottoms, and cutover ground suits it everywhere. Joe Wheeler State Park on the Tennessee River and William B. Bankhead National Forest in the northwest lead the record, with strong showings at Chewacla State Park, Little River Canyon National Preserve, and the longleaf country of Conecuh National Forest. Records from Gulf State Park and Dauphin Island show deer working even the coastal scrub and maritime forest.
A rut that runs late in Alabama
Deer are active year-round here, but Alabama’s counts climb sharply from September through November, when the breeding season pulls bucks out of their routines and onto the move in daylight. Alabama is known among southeastern states for an unusually variable and late rut, with peak breeding in some parts of the state falling in January or even February, and the record’s strong January count fits that pattern. Fawns arrive in late spring and summer as does seek thick cover.
Status in Alabama
NatureServe ranks the white-tailed deer S5, Secure, in Alabama, and the species is native to its Alabama range. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous in the state, and the IUCN lists it globally as Least Concern.
Full species profile
