Deer ?

Assuming Blackwater is the NWR in Delaware or Delmarva penn., this would have to be a white-tailed deer. No other deer lives in the east, at least naturally. Size appears correct, ears are right size. Coat is a little gray as they should be changing to their reddish summer fur. Only thing out of place is the lack of a tail but accidents do happen.

Peter

Where is Blackwater? Would help to ID.

Hi Peter and John, thank you for your comments.

I should have said, Blackwater is Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern shore in Maryland just south of Cambridge, MD.

I see the Whitetail Deer all the time out here, these just didn't strike me as whitetail. I could be wrong.

DK

Thanks for the update on location. My first impression was a melanistic fallow deer, they are not native of course. I would have to agree a white tail having a bad hair day, and has lost all if not most of its tail.

Hi DK - it's a sika deer, here's what the Blackwater website says...

"One unusual resident of the Refuge is the sika deer, which is actually a species of elk that originates in Japan, Taiwan and eastern Asia, and was introduced onto James Island in the Chesapeake Bay about 1916. Sika deer prefer the more secluded areas of the Refuge, but they are quite common in southern Dorchester County. Sika are smaller and darker than the white-tailed deer, often retaining their spots as an adult."