Many species of forest-inhabiting deer offer strong potential as ecological indicators of forest management and diversity at broad, landscape scales. They have high potential value for land-use planning. Four main characteristics make such deer particularly suited as ecological indicators of forest management: (1) Their biology is well known, especially in relation to that of most other wildlife species; (2) They have relatively large, and often, seasonally migratory home ranges, therefore requiring management of landscapes rather than isolated patches of habitat; (3) They require a habitat that is diverse in food and cover, temporally, spatially, and genetically; and (4) They are important to people for both food and aesthetic value and are not an abstract concept such as ‘biodiversity.’ Deer species, therefore, often provide a means of evaluating land-use alternatives in biologically meaningful, theoretically sound, and socially relevant terms. Their potential should not be overlooked in efforts aimed at forest management in an ecosystem context and the maintenance of biologically diverse wildlife communities.