Combative female whitetails

Two females stand on hind legs. They are beginning to spar for dominance.

I had always assumed that female white-tailed deer were fairly docile. Despite being really common around here, I had never seen them fight — never, that is, until yesterday. To my considerable surprise, I watched two females rise up on their hind legs and brandish one another with their forelimbs.

Their ears were held out horizontally in a form of threat, and their tails were extended horizontally indicating that each felt she was (or should be) dominant.

They each were presumably sparring for the dominant position in the herd. The event lasted for under five seconds where the forelegs were waved up and down, but never seemed to make contact with the other deer. It was all an exercise in intimidation, and one of them soon gave up and ran away, thus leaving the position of dominance to the other. 

It is unclear whether the females of the other deer species around here (mule deer, elk, caribou, moose) similarly battle for dominance. This happens much too rarely for me to have seen it and I have found no reference to them fighting each other.

There follows some pictures of the combat.

To start, here is a detail of the above picture of them starting their combat.

The two combatants faced each other and pawed the air in front of themselves. The facing deer has one foreleg up and the other down but she quickly switched their positions again and again. The deer with its back to us has both forelegs up.

The deer with its back to us is beginning to accept defeat. Its ears, that had expressed a threat, are dropping, and its tail, claiming dominance, is down. Its adversary, facing us, is carrying on with gusto.

The deer, that had its back to us, gives up the fight and runs away.

The event was over quickly. At no time previously have I seen female white-tailed deer act this way. They can be more combative than I ever suspected.