Range - Pacific Northwest west of the Cascade Mountains. As the snow melts away from the high-country meadows and forests, the deer move upslope for the summer to feed on juicy meadow plants. Deer, like any wild animals, are unpredictable and people have been seriously injured by the sharp hooves of a startled or frightened deer. Brown with a sharply defined tan rump patch. Darker around neck, head, legs and belly.
Males grow large antlers, beginning in early spring.
Antlers are fully grown by autumn and are then dropped in early winter. Roosevelt elk are larger and darker than the Rocky Mountain elk found east of the Olympic and Coastal Ranges. Range - Roosevelt elk were once found on the west side of the Cascades and Coast Ranges from the San Francisco Bay area northward to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Today they are limited to only a few areas, mostly in managed herds. Olympic's Roosevelt elk herd is the country's largest unmanaged population of this subspecies.