# Why are deer in FL so small ?



## local_hooker (Mar 17, 2009)

Deer in Florida are so scrawny ?? I see them and it looks like they are all from Ethiopia or somthing. Even bucks with nice racks are 100lb weeklings.. Is it a lack of good food ? I am origionaly from Michigan and man if you shot a deer here and show pictures of it back there you would be ridiculed for shooting bambi's grandmother. Michigan deer average 200+ lbs dressed and can hit 300.


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## fisheye48 (Sep 28, 2007)

local_hooker said:


> Deer in Florida are so scrawny ?? I see them and it looks like they are all from Ethiopia or somthing. Even bucks with nice racks are 100lb weeklings.. Is it a lack of good food ? I am origionaly from Michigan and man if you shot a deer here and show pictures of it back there you would be ridiculed for shooting bambi's grandmother. Michigan deer average 200+ lbs dressed and can hit 300.


food source and climate are the biggest things...the deer up there have to pack the groceries on before winter to help survive the cold...down here they only have to brave the cold for about a month....food sources are the biggest thing...up there they have plenty of fields and forage to eat....down here pine needles and beach sand doesnt put on the lbs


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Food source is the biggest factor.


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## FelixH (Sep 28, 2007)

Look up Bergmann's rule for one possible explanation.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

*Here's another theory....*

Go PC Beach on a summer afternoon. Skinnies in kinies all over the place. I think the deer feel the pressure to be thin and work out a lot, probably are on strange diets.

I used to hunt around Orlando and was passing up deer, guy with me shot one about 75 lbs. Grew up and still hunt in Central Alabama, just couldn't bring myself to shoot those little ones.


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

fisheye48 said:


> food source and climate are the biggest things...the deer up there have to pack the groceries on before winter to help survive the cold...down here they only have to brave the cold for about a month....food sources are the biggest thing...up there they have plenty of fields and forage to eat....down here pine needles and beach sand doesnt put on the lbs


 Agreed!


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## K-Bill (May 14, 2009)

i hope scully weighs in on this. he made a good last year or year before last. a huge thing that is often over-looked is subspecies is not the same. can't remember exactly what he said. obviously knew more about it than me. i wanna say it was coastal whitetails here and virginia whitetails once you get into north al, north ga, and all through everywhere north of there. lucky us, huh? but hey! our small deer are still just as smart! that's my prideful side coming out. ha!


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

If you hunt N of IH 10 you will find farming communities with crops and minerals in the ground, and larger deer. S of IH 10 is little farming with sand as the soil and so only native vegetation to eat.


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## HisName (Nov 29, 2009)

agree " Food source is the biggest factor. "

I see where they eat the tops or ferns and nibble / browse on so many plants that offer nothing more than survival.

I keep mineral blocks and corn out year round and feed several Does behind my house that otherwise would not make it. they are not picky ether. they will eat Loaf Bread , corn bread , and many day old cooked Greens and peas , love peanut butter and Little Debbie's Cinnamon rolls. No food goes into my trash


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## PensacolaEd (Oct 3, 2007)

Part of it is what somebody said earlier, Bergman's Rule. The rule says as you get closer to the equator, mammals tend to be smaller in size, since it's easier to cool a small body. As you get farther away from the equator, the body sizes of mammals get larger, because it is more efficient to keep a large body warm. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann's_rule

Ed


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

everything in florida is smaller.:yes::whistling:

jack


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## fishfynder (Sep 26, 2008)

90 % of it is our soils down here. Our soil is poor in nutrients and minerals, therefore our animals do not get as much nutrition as deer up north do. 
Ask a farmer above the Mason Dixon if he has to lime his fields every 3 years and how much nitrogen, potash, and phosphate he has to put per acre compared to what we have to put down here. The soils are somewhat better in the black belt region just north of here so the deer there are somewhat larger. Just look at our cows vs. cows up north and out west.


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

PensacolaEd said:


> Part of it is what somebody said earlier, Bergman's Rule. The rule says as you get closer to the equator, mammals tend to be smaller in size, since it's easier to cool a small body. As you get farther away from the equator, the body sizes of mammals get larger, because it is more efficient to keep a large body warm.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann's_rule
> 
> Ed


Apparently, humans are an exception to the rule. :whistling:


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

Orion, you just proved it is FOOD SUPPLY!


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## fisheye48 (Sep 28, 2007)

HisName said:


> agree " Food source is the biggest factor. "
> 
> I see where they eat the tops or ferns and nibble / browse on so many plants that offer nothing more than survival.
> 
> I keep mineral blocks and corn out year round and feed several Does behind my house that otherwise would not make it. they are not picky ether. they will eat Loaf Bread , corn bread , and many day old cooked Greens and peas , love peanut butter and Little Debbie's Cinnamon rolls. No food goes into my trash


to much corn will mess up a deer stomach. if you can afford to mix in a protein supplement every so often. it will keep your deer healthy and the bucks will grow bigger horns and the does when they are nursing will have more protein in their systems and pass that on to their young so that they are healthy


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## ScullsMcNasty (Oct 4, 2007)

fisheye48 said:


> to much corn will mess up a deer stomach. if you can afford to mix in a protein supplement every so often. it will keep your deer healthy and the bucks will grow bigger horns and the does when they are nursing will have more protein in their systems and pass that on to their young so that they are healthy


:thumbsup:


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## boutwell_43 (Oct 11, 2007)

I hunt up around the walnut hill area. On average our bucks have been 180, biggest 221. But we only take 2-3 a year, mature bucks. The soybean fields make a huge difference.


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