not a day goes by without seeing at least one, if not more, of our smallish deer here this time of year. It helps of course that I spend a lot of time in out-of-the-way places like creeks, ravines or just the backwoods, but that is not essential be able to have a close-up view of our Black-tails; they are absolutely everywhere. Driving around on the Sunshine Coast or even just the Town of Gibsons early to mid-morning or mid to late afternoon and early evening, you are more than likely to see one crossing a road, grazing somewhere by the roadside, even on the beach, usually does (with or without a fawn or two), or much more occasionally a young or youngish buck.

in fact the only remarkable thing about Coastal Black-tails here seems to be that we don’t see more older bucks; usually two or three-pointers, very occasionally, if you are very lucky, a six-pointer but nothing much in-between or older. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there; they are or must be… but finding them is a really lucky hit. Why? I haven’t worked that out yet. It kind of seems that our more publicly visible areas are a playground for younger deer and they disappear once they have reached a degree of mental maturity. But that makes no sense whatsoever with what I know about them and their habits.

Coastal Black-tailed Deer or Columbian Black-tailed Deer (or Odocoileus hemionus columbianus, to give them their proper name but which they are no doubt not aware of and which I keep forgetting myself for some unknown reason anyway) are not restricted to coastal areas, despite their name; in fact they are found deep in-land on Vancouver Island, most of the smaller islands and deep into the Coast Mountain range (which is probably why they got their “Coastal” bit) of south west BC. I wont get into the issues of hybridization with mule deer or white-tails as we then end up with a long and convoluted discussion, a very heated one at that, regarding their origin, are they a species and all that kind of jazz, which is extremely interesting to us scientists but exceedingly boring to the rest of us, including myself, depending on what mood I am in. They look different, they are (certainly in terms of behaviour) different and they have their own name, rightfully or not, so that is good enough for us here now.

Black-tails are an extremely cute, lovable deer, a bit like seal-pups with their large trusting eyes, but also peculiar deer with a combination of habits and attributes which are somewhat contradictory and unexpected. They are decidedly set in their ways, inflexible and yet surprisingly adaptable and, seemingly, a flexibility in decision making which should go totally against the grain. I am so used to them, can always predict where they are and what they are going to do, but they manage to surprise me time and time again somehow or other.

according to the literature, Coastal Black-tailed Deer adapt well to the presence of humans which is undoubtedly true. They have no qualms getting into our gardens, our public spaces, grazing, feeding resting out in the open where they can be seen and see all or sundry. They love my apples, my neighbour’s grapes, my soft fruits and, in common with most deer, positively hate the smell of lavender which is how I protect my (very modest) crops and discourage them from walking through or jumping over my gates. The other trick is an open, staggered fence; their vision is largely two-dimensional and they have great difficulty deciding whether there is a gap they could go through and what to do with it unless forced through it.

we love watching our Black-tails and welcome them over here which is probably because, although we see plenty of them, there aren’t that many in Gibsons, unlike e.g. Grand Forks, BC, which is overrun by White-tails or Mule deer to the extent that all flowers in the local graveyard are plastic as real ones wont last even a day, let alone a night. The reason for this may well have something to do with our local cougar(s) but that is another story. But if you want to get really close, even get nuzzled by a Black-tail, go into the woods or ravines and if there is one around close by, it is highly likely to come over and have a sniff and a feel of you. No chance of that in town; they keep a healthy distance. In fact I get nuzzled daily at the moment, working in the Gibsons Creek ravine. And not always by the same one either although they are usually the females, the males keeping just out of arms-reach and a watchful eye on what the girls are up to with me. So they adapt well to human “habitat” but certainly are more open to physical human “contact” outside that. Curiosity or trust issues? No idea!

there are however conditions attached to this “adaptability”; it mustn’t mean drastic change. I tend to think of Coastal Black-tails as the “flat earthers” of the animal world around here. For them nothing much exists outside the area they were born in, learned to feed in, explored as young… they know it like the back of their hand, but put them outside it and they are totally and utterly lost. Change, especially significant change in their “world” won’t cause them to move out and seek their luck elsewhere, after all nothing exists outside their horizon. No, they rigidly stick to what they know, knew, and try and survive there, try and adapt to change within their world, sometimes with success, sometimes not. So their adaptability is bounded by the world they know; our successful “urban” Black-tails more than likely grew up in the area and learned to handle it from day one. So where are the older males?

their “natural” habits can be equally surprising. Very few land animals will actually drink seawater. It is much too salty for them and why would they anyway, since we are blessed with abundant fresh water here on the Sunshine Coast everywhere? So seeing Black-tails on the beach, other than just passing through, is, or should be, a bit surprising as here is nothing there for them to eat, being strict vegetarians and ruminants, or drink. But here on the Reserve near Gibsons and Gibsons Creek, every morning deer appear out of the surrounding area, wander across the beach a bit, have a good look around, go to the tide line, step in a few steps and drink seawater, hang around for a bit longer and move off, back into the vegetation to feed and go about their business for the day. It looks like the really coastal of the Coastal Black-tails have picked up the habit of drinking a bit of seawater every day… I can only guess at the reasons but it seems most likely that this is in lieu of a “salt lick” which they would need from time to time otherwise. But no way of proving that “scientifically” at the moment.

and finally, because I could go on and on about these animals and their peculiarities but I won’t, the flexibility in decision making I referred to earlier. Not all that long ago, in the same area where I had been stalked by a young cougar, I was involved in installing a long fence and monitoring the work being carried out. The moment heavy, noisy machinery appeared on site, the local Black-tails disappeared as would have been expected. However it wasn’t long before at least some returned and watched us work with all our noise and machinery. At first we surmised it was nothing more but their curiosity overcoming their anxiety, but it wasn’t long before we realized something else was going on: they kept darting away and returning, coming ever closer to our backhoe and activity and staying for longer and longer. And then I spotted it: there was my damn cougar again.. well it could have been any cougar, not necessarily the same one that stalked me, but a cougar it was. And it was obviously highly interested in the lunch walking around my backhoe but didn’t feel strongly enough about it to come any closer and collect it. The Black-tails on the other hand had apparently decided that, despite the unfamiliar noise and frightening activity, seeing there was a hungry cougar about, it was much safer to stay close to us than try and outwit or outrun the cougar, a pattern we saw again and again during the entire time we were working there. Frustrating for the cougar, but a rather clever and unexpected strategy from the Black-tails.

there is no end to the number of stories I could tell about Coastal Black-tail Deer here, and no doubt I will return to this some time again, but there is probably also no end to the times and ways in which they will keep surprising me. I have no doubt they will continue teaching me a lesson or two and make sure I retain what looks destined to become a life-long fascination with our Black-tails. But then I am both easily pleased and easily surprised… ignorance is definitely bliss!