The Key West citizen., 1952-04-30
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which crossed the highway. l
watched a twopoint buck one after
noon which was approximately 80
inches at the shoulder and which
looked to be a heavy deer. Only
about three out of all my observa-
tons would have been under 21 in
ches at the shoulder. (Fawns) l
took pictures the other day Of doe
which was 27-2S inches at the
shoulder U checked this height
twice against saplings and Gus and
Joe Chase (of Big Pine Key who
were with me also checked 1t (in-
dependently of me. then we COM
pared our measurements which
checked closely. We estimated her
weight conservatively at go pounds.
| was with Ed Barry when he got
pictures of a doe which three Of us
(Gus Chase, Ed Barry, and Dick
SOM estimated to be between $3.50
inches at the shoulder. have seen
two other does larger than these :
one had a fawn which was about
half her size.
IF one considers deer of this
size Toy Deer then well and good.
However, | would not call deer
the size of the key deer q toy.
The South Florida or Everglades
deer (Odocoileus virginianus esceo-
la) are no larger in size.
There could definitely not be
two races of deer in the area as
subspecies will interbreed. And If
the Key Deer was not correctly
named and should have been rank
ed as full species it still should
not be considered a toy because
even the original descriptions as
above mentioned came from speci-
ments of $3.50 pounds.
Barry has also collected signed
statements of old Key residents
and hunters. These are printed be-
low.
Philip A. Saunders, General Con-
tractor, Marathon, Fla.
"Readint the many accounts of
the toy deer brings to mind the
one deer have seen on the Keys.
Early one morning four years ago,
my son-in-law and / were bowling
along the highway towards Key
West where we had a job. AS we
rounded the curve on Big Pine we
saw deer on the highway. He
saw us too and moved off a ways
and then stopped and watched US.
We slowed down and had a good
look at him. He was at least three
feet high at the shoulders and l
am sure he weighed over 100
pounds.
Mrs. Ralph Pinder, 1902 South
ST., Key West,
81 spent the better part of my
childhood on Big Pine Key on what
is still known as Watson's Ham.
mock. My parents had a large
farm and also ran a mall grocery
store. This was before the railroad
was in operation and we went to
Key West by sail boat. In calm
weather, ii sometimes took us three
days. Our greatest problem was to
save our produce from the deer Of
which there were great number.
We used set or spring guns and
frequently killed three in one
week. My father also hunted them.
| don't know how much the deer
weighed, but they were not toys or
midget by any means, and I think
they were about three feet high"
Mrs. Hilda Sands. 4ls United St,
Key West,
II have lived at different loca-
tions on Big Pine Key for almost
30 years. When mr family was on
the north end. We had quite a farm.
and the deer were a serious pro-
hlem, We killed them and ate
them, and used the skins for rugs.
The recent picture on the front
page of the Key West Citizen,
showing the skin of a mainland
deer and the skin of a Key deer,
made me smile The key deer is so
small think il must have been
fawn or very small deer. We
never would have bothered skin
ming a deer that small. / would not