Deer in the Puget Sound area eat a wide variety of foods and migrate seasonally to find food. A. The balance of deer species in the Puget Sound region has changed over time, with the Columbian white-tailed deer now outnumbering other types of deer. B. Deer populations naturally fluctuate, but early settlers in the Puget Sound environment caused an overall decline in the deer populations of the areas at that time. C. In the long term, black-tailed deer in the Puget Sound area have benefitted from human activities through the elimination of their natural predators, and more and better food in deforested areas. D. Because Puget Sound deer migrate, it was and still remains difficult to determine accurately how many deer are living at any one time in the western United States. E. Although it was believed that human settlement of the American West would cause the total number of deer to decrease permanently, the opposite has occurred for certain types of deer. F. Wildlife biologists have long been concerned that the loss of forests may create nutritional deficiencies for deer.