A thick layer of underfur adds extra warmth. Snow, wind, and water cannot penetrate these hairs to the skin, so deer stay warm and dry. Some whitetails are much larger than that. The biggest one ever recorded in the United States was a 500-pound Minnesota buck. Minnesota has about 1 million white-tailed deer.
Deer are so adaptable they are found in every county.
They live in farmlands, deep forests, and wide-open bog country. Early American Indians hunted deer for meat and deerskins to make soft moccasins, pants, and shirts. The valuable skins were called bucks , a nickname we still use for money. In spring and summer, they graze on clover, grasses, and tree buds. In the fall they switch to high-energy food such as acorns, wild grapes, and other fruits.