Moose × Transmoose.
"One shot is what it's all about. A deer's gotta be taken with one shot."
— Michael, The Deer Hunter
This sub-index of Mammal Tropes is all about the various antlered ungulates of the family Cervidae, more commonly known as deer. This also includes moose and reindeer (which are particular types of deer), but does not include antelopes and gazelles (which, while often mistaken for deer, are actually in the same family as sheep, goats, and cows), nor musk deer and mouse-deer (which are their own families entirely).
Not to be confused with the adjective dear. Despite the names, A Tankard of Moose Urine and All of the Other Reindeer do not go here.
See also the indices for other hoofed mammals, including cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, and horses.
Tropes
- Bambification: Deer are sweet and innocent.
- Crown of Horns: Crowns that look like deer antlers.
- Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Nixon: Someone gets the name of at least one of Santa's reindeer wrong.
- Deer in the Headlights: A deer on the highway at night is scared by an oncoming car's headlights.
- Disturbing Deer: Deer and other cervids are portrayed as scary or unsettling.
- Fauns and Satyrs: Fauns are humans from the waist up, but have the legs of a deer.
- Hood Hornament: Hunters displaying their kills by tying them down across their hoods; usually restricted to mammalian big game such as deer.
- Horse of a Different Color: Examples of moose and reindeer that can be ridden like horses.
- The Marvelous Deer: Deer are elusive, mystical and wondrous animals.
- Moose and Maple Syrup: The Theme Park Version of Canada, usually with a moose as a mascot.
- Moose Are Idiots: Moose portrayed as dimwitted saps.
- Our Perytons Are Different: Part-bird, part-deer, and 100% bad news for those that stand before it.
- Sinister Deer Skull: Deer skulls portrayed as being creepy and unnatural.
- Wendigo: A mythological monster from Algonquian folklore that is associated with winter and cannibalism, commonly depicted as a giant humanoid hunchback creature with a deer head and antlers.
- White-Tailed Reindeer: Caribou that look more like generic white-tailed deer than actual reindeer.
- Woodland Creatures: Deer are common members of these ensembles.