Florida’s white-tailed deer include one of the state’s most distinctive conservation stories: the Key deer, a small subspecies found only in the Lower Florida Keys and listed as federally endangered, genuinely different from the mainland deer whose 14,000-plus records anchor Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and extend south into Big Cypress and Everglades National Park’s wetter terrain.
Records hold fairly steady across the year with a modest May peak rather than one dominant season, a pattern that fits a species active and visible in every month. NatureServe rates the broader species secure (S5) both statewide and across its full range, a rank that applies to the widespread mainland population rather than the far more precarious Key deer.
Full species profile
