Perhaps 1 of every 1000 females also bears small, simple antlers. Subspecies and relations There are 16 recognized subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America. Only three of these are found in Canada. The brushy draws, parklands, and forest fringes of the prairies, westward to the foothills of the Rockies, are inhabited by the Dakota white-tailed deer. The tawny northwestern white-tailed deer is found in southeastern British Columbia, occasionally straying down the eastern slopes of the continental divide into Alberta.
Confusion is less likely between the white-tailed deer and the darker stockier mule deer.
Mule deer can be distinguished by a small white tail with a black-tip, antlers that divide and redivide into paired beams and points and ears that are large, more like those of their namesake the mule than those of their more delicate cousin. Elsewhere people may mean the white-tail when they use the term, referring to that animal's irregular jumping gallop when alarmed. Although birth may take place from late March to early August, most fawns are born during the last week of May or the first week of June. On hish quality range twin fawns are the rule, although single births are quite common among younger females, especially those giving birth for the first time. Triplets are relatively uncommon and quadruplets occur only rarely.