If you want to know where the white-tailed deer nonsense came from, take a look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXYBU1T-Ek
There's a bit at the beginning, but the relevant part starts about 8:20. You can skip ahead to that, but much of the rest I found interesting as well.
I stumbled across this the other day because I watch this guy's YouTube channel and I'm convinced he's credible. He's originally from South Africa, but he lived in Shenzhen, China, for 14 years and now lives in the U.S. with his Chinese wife. This video is kind of a primer on one way foreign propaganda works, and I would bet it works this way from other countries as well.