Florida Key Deer...

[jprzybyla]

As it has been said... I'm Baccckkkkk. Last week my wife and I rented a house in the lower keys of Florida. Our main goal was to photograph wildlife while there, mainly the endangered Key Deer. This deer is only found in the Florida Keys with most concentrated on Big Pine Key and No Name Key where a national wildlife refuge was established in 1957 to protect them. They were almost extinct but now have recovered to an estimated population of between 300 - 800. This deer is a subspecies of the Whitetail Deer but much smaller in size. Males are between 55 - 75 pounds and stand about 30 inches tall at the shoulders. Females are between 44 - 64 pounds and stand about 26 inches at the shoulders. Many deer are killed each year by automobiles, averaging between 30 - 40 each year.

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[Bobobird]

Good to see you back Joe.

Fine shots here. The deer appear to be pretty used to humans.

[jeeperman]

Great work Joe, those are some really small deer. You have managed some nice sharp images. I think #2 is my favorite. One it is a buck and two he was in the shade, out of the somewhat harsh light. Which you handled pretty well. On #2 due to the shade it looks like there might be a slight blue cast. If it is and you cut it back some I think it would improve an already nice image.

Thanks for the background on the deers history.

[Mike Buckley]

I remember camping on Big Pine Key as a youth in the 1960s. I'm really surprised to see that the deer have come back so relatively strong. Thanks for sharing your very nice images and the information about the deer.

[jamn4ex]

Great shots Joe. May I ask what lens you used and general distance of shot.

[Teton Chuck]

Joe, very nice shots. Thanks for sharing and thank you for the background information. I had no idea. They must be the smallest deer in North America.

[jeeperman]

Deer raised in the south tend to be smallest of all: the Florida Key deer is one of the smallest of all 30 subspecies of white-tailed deer. They typically weigh less than 39kg (80lbs) with a shoulder height of about 70cm (27in). Only the Coiba Island white-tail (O. v. rothschildi) , which occurs off the Pacific Coast of Panama, is smaller.

This is a snipit I found in this article. Interesting stuff.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw121

[jprzybyla]

Good to see you back Joe.

Fine shots here. The deer appear to be pretty used to humans.

Thanks Bobo, they are very used to humans. The islands are small and no hunting is allowed, so they are not threatened and are accustomed to seeing humans. On both islands that they inhabit there is land set aside as a national wildlife refuge.

[jprzybyla]

Great work Joe, those are some really small deer. You have managed some nice sharp images. I think #2 is my favorite. One it is a buck and two he was in the shade, out of the somewhat harsh light. Which you handled pretty well. On #2 due to the shade it looks like there might be a slight blue cast. If it is and you cut it back some I think it would improve an already nice image.

Thanks for the background on the deers history.

Thank Paul, I appreciate your interest in nature. I shall check out the blue cast you mentioned, shade has a habit of doing that.

[jprzybyla]

I remember camping on Big Pine Key as a youth in the 1960s. I'm really surprised to see that the deer have come back so relatively strong. Thanks for sharing your very nice images and the information about the deer.

Thanks Mike, I appreciate you viewing and commenting. I wonder if you camped at the Boy Scout Camp that is on the island.

[jprzybyla]

Great shots Joe. May I ask what lens you used and general distance of shot.

Thank James for you taking time to view and comment. Most of the distances to the deer were quite close, maybe 100 to 200 feet. The lens I used was a Nikon 55-300 mm AF-S VRII.

[jprzybyla]

Joe, very nice shots. Thanks for sharing and thank you for the background information. I had no idea. They must be the smallest deer in North America.

Thanks Chuck, I appreciate you viewing and commenting. I think they are the smallest deer in North America and Paul's post confirms that. It is like looking at a deer in miniature, not sure why they have become so small. Their biggest danger now is road kill, one morning while traveling to Bahia Honda State Park we saw one on the side of the road... killed the previous night.

[Mike Buckley]

I wonder if you camped at the Boy Scout Camp that is on the island.

As you're driving toward Key West, I camped at the very first campground on the left that is past the bridge that drops you onto the island. It definitely was not a Boy Scout Camp at the time. I seem to remember seeing a photo of that area recently and that it perhaps is no longer a campground. Instead, it might have been developed into a resort that has no camping spaces. I can't remember for sure, so don't take that to the bank.