How Fast Can a Deer Run? Deer Speed and Jumping Ability

Deer speed in numbers

Wild animals are hard to time accurately, so deer speeds are best treated as ranges. Most figures come from vehicles pacing running deer and from field observations rather than precise laboratory tests.

These figures put the white-tailed deer among the fastest deer, comparable to the roe deer of Europe. It is still well behind North America’s fastest land mammal, the pronghorn, explained in how fast is a pronghorn?

Built for bursts of speed

A deer’s body is made for fast, explosive starts. Its long, slender lower legs are light, with most of the heavy muscle packed high on the body near the hips and shoulders. Deer walk on the tips of two toes on each foot, protected by hard hooves, which effectively lengthens the leg and the stride.

Powerful hindquarters drive the deer forward, and a flexible spine lets it stretch out in long, bounding strides. Large lungs and heart support short bursts of very hard work. What deer lack is the long-distance stamina of wolves or people, so their strategy is to spring away suddenly, outdistance a predator and then hide.

How deer escape predators

A white-tailed deer relies first on its senses. Its ears turn independently toward sounds, its nose picks up scent from far away and its wide-set eyes detect the smallest movement. A suspicious deer often stamps a front hoof, bobs its head and snorts loudly before running.

When it bolts, it usually raises its white tail like a flag. It then runs in a fast, weaving course through the trees, using dense cover, fallen logs and fences that a chasing predator must go around or over. Deer often run a short distance and stop to look back, and they know their home range well, including escape routes and thick hiding places.

Most predators of deer hunt by ambush rather than chase. Cougars and bobcats stalk close before pouncing, while wolves and coyotes may test a group, chasing deer to find one that is young, old, sick or slowed by deep snow. A healthy adult deer on good footing can usually outrun them.

How high and far can deer jump?

White-tailed deer are among the best jumpers of all large mammals. From a standing start they can spring over obstacles around 2.4 m (8 ft) high, and leaps of about 3 m (10 ft) have been reported. Running at full speed, they can cover up to about 9 m (30 ft) in a single long bound.

This ability explains why ordinary farm fences rarely stop deer and why fences built specifically to keep deer out of orchards, forest plantations and highways are usually at least 2.4 m (8 ft) tall. Deer often prefer to crawl under or push through a fence rather than jump it, especially if they cannot see clearly what is on the other side.

Running styles: white-tails and mule deer

White-tailed deer run with a familiar gallop, stretching out and leaping obstacles as they go. The mule deer of western North America has an additional gait called stotting or pronking, in which it bounces along on all four legs at once. Stotting lets mule deer change direction instantly and climb steep, rocky slopes, but it is slower than a white-tail’s gallop on flat ground.

Other deer are fast too. Elk can reach about 65 km/h (40 mph), and even the huge moose can run at up to about 56 km/h (35 mph) in short bursts.

Swimming

White-tailed deer are excellent swimmers. They swim to escape predators, to get away from biting flies and to reach islands with fresh food. Deer regularly cross large rivers and reservoirs, and the tiny Key deer of Florida swims between islands in the Keys. In the water a deer paddles with all four legs, keeping its head and back above the surface.

Deer speed and roads

Speed and sudden movement also make deer a hazard on roads. A startled deer can dash into traffic from roadside cover in an instant, and deer often travel in groups, so where one crosses others may follow. Collisions peak at dawn and dusk and during the autumn rut.