Which animal ranges from the Arctic to South America and is comfortable in the Pennsylvania suburbs?

What can leap over a nine-foot obstacle or cross a 25-foot stream in a single bound?

What can run at a burst of speed of up to 40 mph and still dodge the thickest cover?

The Pennsylvania whitetail deer is the answer.

I couldn't help but to think of the deer on this beautiful March day, when a pair of yearling whitetails wandered up our driveway in the morning sun.

In a way, I'm a lot like many other people when I think of deer as being nocturnal or at least preferring to travel in the twilight or predawn hours to travel.

Apparently, no one explained that to these two deer.

The Game Commission had an interesting story on the history of the deer in Pennsylvania, and I thought that I might share some of the history.

When settlers first came to colonize Penn's Woods, they found the land to be heavily forested and filled with predators.

Cougars, bears and wolves, along with the Native Americans' sustenance hunting, helped to keep the deer herd numbers low. You were just as likely to hunt elk or bison as a whitetail deer.

Ironically the deer herd grew as the settlers cut down the forests and drove both predators and natives farther west and north.

Not surprisingly, by the late 1800s, human reliance on all game species nearly drove the deer to extinction.

Market hunters were relentless, and they finally did wipe out elk, buffalo and passenger pigeons because of the lack of enforceable hunting laws.

In 1895, the Game Commission was founded and the protection of wildlife resources became one of its first priorities.

Sportsmen rallied behind the newly formed organization, and the first hunting seasons were set.

During this era, the deer herd was so depleted that the Game Commission released 1,200 deer from 1906 to 1925 to restore the state deer herd.

Older hunters that I know have told me stories of how everyone in their community would come out to look at a single set of deer tracks that someone discovered.

A few of the young men would follow the track in hopes of getting a glimpse of the deer.

In 1920, the PGC held its first antlerless deer license drawing, but it was not well received by many hunters, who felt the herd would be at risk.

From the 1923 to 1956, the PGC closed the antlerless deer season 13 times. In 1957, license sales began by county and remained that way until the new WMU system was developed.

In the late 1980s and early '90s, the deer population boomed and bonus tags were introduced.

Historically, the doe season followed the two-week buck season for two to three days. In 2001, however, the concurrent season was introduced and remains in effect.

A recent study by the Game Commission shows that many issues have an affect on the deer population.

Deer density patterns, hunter density, deer-vehicle collisions, slope of terrain and distance from the roads are all things being considered.

The study did show that only 1 percent of deer mortality is due to predator activity. A deer is more likely to die from vehicle collision, accidents or starvation than at the hands of a predator.

Hunter access continues to be a problem in many suburban areas and extended archery and muzzleloader opportunities are being offered, as well as liberal antlerless license sales.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy watching the deer and bemoaning the fact that they've eaten my tulip plantings down to the ground for another spring season!