The deer of America have been celebrated in literature and history. The early settlers were indebted to the animal for food and clothing. Deer meat, venison, is still considered a choice meat. It was especially useful to early settlers since it can be preserved by sun-drying or smoking. The process, called jerking, makes the meat light in weight. Large amounts can be carried easily. The animal's skin, called buckskin, is a soft and sturdy leather. Pioneers used buckskin to make moccasins, leggings, pants, coats, hats, and gloves. The leather is still considered valuable for clothing. Indians used deer antlers to make harpoons and picks.

Antlers of some deer are prized for ornamental purposes. Antlers of the roe deer are used in making umbrella handles. Elk antlers are sometimes used in handles of knives. The musk deer has an abdominal gland, called a pod, that secretes musk, which is used as a base for perfumes. Reindeer and caribou, which range over northern Europe and northern America, supply food and furs to the Lapps and Eskimos. They are also a means of transportation.

In some suburban areas, deer have become pests, destroying shrubs and gardens.

Many hoofed mammals, like the giraffe and okapi, grow horns. But elk and other deer are the only mammals that grow antlers. Antlers are not the same as horns. Antlers are temporary. They shed, but they grow back each year. Horns are permanent. They stay with an animal its whole life.

Antlers are covered by a soft, velvetlike layer. When the covering dies, the deer rub it off. Horns are covered by skin. The covering makes the horns very hard and tough.

Its antlers help deer stay cool. Warm blood rushes to its antlers. The outside air cools the blood. As a result, the animal’s whole body cools off.

Antlers are much larger than horns, too. Antlers sometimes look like tree branches. Their sharp points warn predators to stay away.

Deer belong to the family Cervidae of the order Artiodactyla.