Columbian White-tailed Deer

Everyone knows that Oregon and Washington are home to the Columbia blacktail deer, but did you know there is also a Columbian white-tailed deer?  And here is the good part, the species has been reopened to hunting for the first time in more than 30 years in a part of its original range.

The Columbian White-tailed Deer is one of the three subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America.  It is a member of the deer family, which includes mule deer, elk, moose, caribou, and the black-tailed deer.  As a subspecies of whitetail, the Columbia is smaller bodied and has smaller horns than its cousins.

The Columbian White-tailed Deer is named after the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington where it congregates. Columbian White-tailed Deer are found along the lower Columbia River, on a series of islands in Clatsop and Columbia counties in Oregon, and Wahkiakum County in Washington.  Other populations are found in the valley floors of the Umpqua River basin.

Columbia whitetail deer were once common throughout the western valleys of both Oregon and Washington, but in 1973 the species was formally listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. That put it off limits to hunting, and it remained that way until 2005. It seems there are two separate populations of this species still in existence. One is on a string of islands in the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington; the other is in the Umpqua Basin near Roseburg, Oregon. It is the latter population that has been reopened to hunting this fall.

Opportunities will be tightly controlled, with less than 50 tags offered through a public drawing. However, landowners in the area will receive “Land Owner Preference “ tags.  These tags are our way of securing for our clients the best hunting grounds for this beautiful species of deer and a guaranteed tag.