The Key West citizen., 1952-04-30

attempt to estimate tne weight of
the deer l have seen on Big Pine
Key but think that they were about
3 feet high at the shoulders. They
certainly were not toys or midgets,
or pygmies.
Augustus L. Chase. Big Pine Key
"Some weeks ago, drove with
John Dixon, State Biologist, and Ed
Barry in the latter's car to his new
development 'Punta Brisa' on Doc
tors Arm, Big Pine Key. AS we
came in the road we saw a deer
about 200 yards away. Barry i'm
mediately got out with his camera
and started forward, whiting at
the deer. who remained stationary.
When Barry came to large brush
pile which had been pushed up by
a bulldozer, he crouched behind it.
His sudden disappearance evident
ly aroused the curiosity of the deer
which came forward fairly close
to the brush pile and enabled Bar
ry to take picture. When the deer
saw Barry, it stopped and looked
at him for a few seconds, then
turned and trotted off. This gave
me a good opportunity to observe
the deer and as l am a boat builder
as well as Q carpenter accustom-
ed to taking and making measure
ments oyer period of many years,
] would say that his height at the
shoulder was rs inches. | estimate
her weight to be 60 pounds"
Lain Dobbs, 1921 Grinnell ST.,
Key West.
II have done considerable hunt
ing on the Keys and have killed
several deer. l would say that the
average height of does at the shoul-
der was between 80 and So inches,
and weight from so to rs pounds.
The bucks are 3 to 4 inches higher
and weigh around IS to ITO pounds.
II saw a very large 10 point
buck that was killed in 1887 that
weighed 165 pounds on the scales.
1--WE had a deer for a pet at one
time. It had been pulled down by
the dogs and had a broken leg. We
put the leg in splints and kept the
deer in the back yard feeding it on
lettuce, sapodilloes, bread and 9th
er table scraps. 1t became very
tame and We named it Betty. At
the end of months when it was
fully recovered, we took it to Cud-
joe Key and released it. 1t was so
tame it didn't want to leave us and
We had quite a time getting away
from it.
u have also been around the TO-
600 Islands a good deal and have
seen many deer that were killed
in that general locality. My recol-
lection is that the mainland deer
are about is pounds heavier than
the deer on the Keys but that there
was no difference in the height.
have never seen any deer on the
Keys that l would call toy or a
midget animal"
Bert E. Calkins, Big Pine Key.
Some years ago, l saw three
deer that had been killed by hunt
ers, two does and buck. My re.
collection is that the does were 80
inches or a little better at the
shoulder and weighed some 60-70
pounds, and the buck was about 4
inches higher and weighed ahou'
100 pounds. In the 80 years have
been on Big Pine Key, have never
seen any deer that l would call
toys or midgets or pygmies."
William Blalock, Big Pine Key.
II have lived on the island only
two years but have seen quite a
few deer. On No Name Key I saw
a group of six in which there was
one buck which l judged to be
about 40 inches high at the shoIl.
der and that would weigh well ever
100 pounds. Some of the others
seemed to be about 81 to So inches
high at the shoulder and would
weigh, ] should think about 70
pounds. There were a couple small
ones, evidently very young deer
that | would think were about 26
or 2S inches high at the shoulder
and would weigh about 50 pounds.
| wouldn't call any of them toy
deer, or midgets, or pygmies. They