What eats white tailed deer?

Many large predator animals in the Americas prey on white-tailed deer, including grey wolves, alligators, mountain lions and similar large cats, such as jaguars. In addition, deer fawns are often targets for medium-sized predators.

Bobcats, coyotes and wolverines are known to take down deer fawns or unhealthy adult deer. There are reports of predator birds, such as eagles, attempting to attack deer fawns as well. However, since the populations of both large and medium predators have decreased in most parts of the Americas, the current highest risk to many populations of white-tailed deer is actually human hunters and domestic dogs.