Natives Network

Deer People: Native American forest folklore.
Several native American people have legends of half deer ,half human being that lives in the forest and is sometimes dangerous to humans.
In the southeast the Choctaw tell of a mischievous deer man called Kashehotapolo. Cherokee folklore has a shapshifting “deer woman” these two apparently have little in common except their deer like attributes and the general part of the world in which they live.
The Kashehotapolo love to frightene hunters in the woods but are otherwise more mischievous than malicious they inhabit the marshes and swampy woodlands. The Choctaw say these beings screech and wail as they dash past hunters at ⚡ lightning speed, the creature run so fast that few ever saw it clearly enough to state what it look like. In contrast to the Choctaw deer man mostly harmless demeanor the Cherokee”deer woman” is a seductive shape shifter. They are able to assume the form of a deer although they may retain some deer.
Deer woman are also found in folklore of the Great Plains in Lakota language they are called
Anukite (double face) or Sinte’ Sapelawin ( black tailed women) legends tend to paint them as irredeemably evil. In Cherokee and other eastern folklore, however they can be helpful to humans although they are still considered dangerous and unpredictable.