Whitetail deer generally inhabit forest, forest edges, and brushy areas from the southern edge of the coniferous forest in Canada to the southern border of the United States and into Mexico. They are absent, in most part, from the drier regions of the west but when present they inhabit the stream bottoms. The latest figures has Whitetail population estimated at 25 million. Those numbers have greatly increased .

Nypel uses for the production of its leather the The Virginia whitetail, Odocoileus virginianus, the prototype of all whitetail deer. Its range includes Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, State of New York and other Mid West states. This is a moderately large deer with fairly heavy antlers. It is hunted in all of the states it inhabits, and each state has a good deer population. It has a widely diversified habitat, varying from coastal marshes, swamplands, and pinelands to the "balds" atop the Great Smokey Mountains .