ORIGINAL: wallhangr
Aren't the "dog sized" deer that were mentioned the Key Deer??? Which would be totally different than Whitetails.
Actually the Florida Keys deer are whitetails. They are just a different species of whitetail. Just like my deer in Virginia are of a different species than those in Texas.
This is an excellent case of Bergmann's Rule which states that an animals body mass and size increases as its distance from the equator increases.