Terms: Male—bull; female—cow; young—calf.
Where found: Most likely to be seen in Swan Lake Flat and Willow Park between Mammoth and Norris; in the Dunraven Pass area; along Lewis River above Lewis Canyon and between Fishing Bridge and the East Entrance. Active all day but they are best seen early in the morning or in late afternoon and evening. Moose are also numerous in the Falls River Basin, Pelican Creek, Slough Creek areas and along the Yellowstone River above the Lake. These animals are thought to number between 500 and 700 for the entire park area and seem to maintain a rather constant level.
MULE DEER
Odocoileus hemionus
The Rocky Mountain Mule Deer, or Blacktail Deer, is a popular animal in the park. The Whitetail deer also was sometimes found in the lower elevations in earlier times but has not been seen in the park for some years. The mule deer gets its name from the family characteristic of the very large mule-like ears.
Rocky Mountain Mule Deer
Mule deer are generally distributed over most of the park during the summer but do not tend to go above timberline as much as do the elk. In the winter they drift down to the lower, more protected ranges, but, not in migratory herds as the elk do.
Their food consists of grass, twigs, foliage of trees and shrubs, plants and fruits. They especially like leaves and buds and sometimes prove destructive to the shrubbery about the developed areas where the landscaping must be protected.
The fawns, one, frequently two and occasionally three in number, are born in late May to July. They are beautiful little spotted creatures that are kept hidden for a time until able to follow their mother. Quite frequently people, upon finding a fawn hidden in the bushes, take it away thinking that something has happened to its mother. This should not be done for it almost invariably does much more harm than good. Once in a while something does happen to the mother but in most cases she is not far away and will return to the fawn when the proper time comes.
General description: A rather large deer with large ears; antler tines pronged; tip of tail black. Female without antlers. Males shed their antlers sometime between December and April annually. Summer color tawny to yellowish brown with large patch of white on rump, throat white. In the winter they are dark gray instead of brownish. Males, total length 68 inches, height at shoulder 42 inches and weight 150 to 200 pounds for the average buck. Females smaller.