If you’re serious about that “buck of a lifetime,” then where you hunt matters. Alberta’s trophy potential is a poorly kept secret. One local outfitter often boasts that ten percent of his hunters bag a buck of 170 or more. What makes deer from this Western Canadian province so large? Here’s the answer, from a post by North River Outfitting.
What makes Alberta whitetail deer so big?
Answer: the subspecies Borealis is the largest in the world.
From Canada to Peru, whitetail deer are widespread and have adapted to a wide range of environments. Across this vast range, there are a long list of whitetail deer subspecies. But the Alberta whitetail, belonging to the Borealis subspecies, is actually the largest in the world.
This is not surprising, since it’s true for most animals that the average size is larger the further they are from the equator. Known as Bergmanns’s Rule, this ecogeographic principle is clearly visible among the subspecies of whitetail deer. From the varieties of small deer that range across Central America, Mexico and the Southern U.S., to the larger varieties that inhabit regions further north, it should come as no surprise that Canadian whitetail deer are the largest.
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