Whitetail Insider

Latest Deer Research

By: Brian Murphy

Here at the Quality Deer Management Association, we work closely with the nation’s leading deer biologists and researchers to stay abreast of the latest discoveries that will assist hunters and landowners in their pursuit of better deer and better deer hunting. The following research summaries range from the practical to the bizarre, but hopefully they will increase your understanding of North America’s premier game animal. Read on for some interesting insights into the world of the whitetail.

Not Your Buck Many hunters have the misconception that the young bucks they pass will remain in the immediate area until they are older and larger if they are not harvested by another hunter. Recent research shows that this often isn’t the case. According to several studies, approximately 50 to 70 percent of all young bucks leave their birth area and travel some distance away – often ending up on the neighbor’s land. This process is called dispersal and is nature’s way of minimizing inbreeding and ensuring a diverse gene pool.

Most dispersal in whitetails occurs at one of two times -- either at 12 months of age when the buck’s mother is preparing to give birth to the next year’s fawns or later that fall when the buck is approximately 18 months old and its mother is preoccupied with breeding activities.

Just because many young bucks disperse, doesn’t mean that hunters should purposely harvest them. Young bucks that disperse from your property will likely become your neighbors’ adult bucks of tomorrow and vice versa. Given this, the key to a successful Quality Deer Management program is protecting young bucks across the largest area possible.

A cooperative study between Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Game Commission revealed that the average dispersal distance for yearling bucks in their study area was four to five miles in mostly forested habitat. Similar studies in more open habitats, such as in the West and Midwest, reported much greater dispersal distances, often 30 or more miles.

Both roads and topography affect the direction of dispersal. High-use roads were found to serve as fairly rigid boundaries, whereas mountain ridges served as major travel corridors to adjoining areas.

The good news is that in the Pennsylvania study researchers discovered that once a yearling buck completed its dispersal and found a new home, 91 percent survived to at least 2 ½ years old if not harvested by a hunter. So if you see a buck on your property that’s 2 ½ years old or older, chances are good he’ll remain on your property, or at least in the area, for years to come.

Another project conducted by North Carolina State and the DuPont Corp. studied yearling buck dispersal in Maryland both before and after implementation of an intensive Quality Deer Management (QDM) program. The goal of the QDM program was to improve the herd’s sex ratio and buck age structure while balancing the herd with its habitat. This involved protection of young bucks and active harvest of does. The study showed that in the pre QDM population, 70 percent of yearling bucks were leaving the area. After the QDM program was implemented and the herd became more balanced, the buck dispersal rate dropped to 50 percent. This suggests that with the implementation of QDM practices, you may be able to retain more bucks than adjoining non-QDM properties, and you may even be able to “stack” bucks by receiving more bucks from your neighbors than you are sending their way through dispersal.

What Happens To Pressured Deer? Ever wonder what deer do on opening day, especially in heavily hunted areas? Do they hunker down? Do they move away from the hunting pressure? Or, do they simply go about their daily routines? In an effort to learn the answers to these and other questions, the QDMA recently secured a $50,000 research grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to expand a Pennsylvania study that will examine deer movement in relation to hunters. This study, which is a cooperative project between Penn State University, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the QDMA, will determine what deer do when hunters enter the woods. The grant will enable researchers to place GPS radio collars around the necks of 20 out of 70 captured does in two different study areas. Researchers will then monitor their movements via satellite. Then, during the November firearms season (after the leaves have fallen from the trees), researchers will use fixed-winged aircraft to fly over the two study areas and take aerial photographs. In the photographs, hunters appear as orange dots on the landscape.

When the hunter images are overlaid with actual GPS locations of the deer, a real-time game of cat and mouse can be recreated. Biologists can then observe what the deer do as the hunters move throughout the woods. They can monitor where the deer go, how they evade hunters, and even how many deer are harvested on each area. This study will provide valuable insights into how hunters use public land.

On the Move Another study conducted by researchers at the University of Delaware examined when and how far deer move during high-intensity controlled hunts. The study found that average daytime movements for does before and during the 2-day hunt averaged around 400 yards, but dropped to around 275 yards immediately following the hunt. Average daytime movements for bucks were similar to those for does before and after the hunt but were nearly twice as high (770 yards) during the hunt. During the first night after the first day of hunting, bucks doubled nighttime movements to almost 1000 yards and does increased their movements to 600 yards. Some does even made substantial movements of 3000 to 5500 yards outside of their established home ranges.

This study suggests that if hunters put quick, intense pressure on a property, it may not greatly affect the distances deer move during the day, but will likely increase their movements at night when they feel safe. The study also suggests that intense hunting pressure can cause at least some deer to not only leave the immediate area, but to move to areas that were not part of their original home range. What are the implications for hunters? Minimize human disturbance and hunting pressure or risk bumping deer completely off your property.

Appetizing Ammo During the 2003-2004 hunting season, biologists from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries made an odd discovery while examining the rumen (stomach) contents of deer harvested on the 100,000-acre Fort Polk Wildlife Management Area in Vernon Parish, Louisiana. Much to their surprise, three of the 13 deer examined contained bullets or bullet fragments. These were not the result of the deer being shot by hunters – the deer were purposely selecting and eating the bullets! In fact, one deer had 12 bullets in its stomach.

Their findings spurred a study in 2004-2005 by researchers at the University of Louisiana at Monroe that discovered bullet fragments in an additional three of 84 deer examined. Two out of the three deer had higher-than-normal lead levels in their bodies, though the levels were not considered high enough to be dangerous to hunters who would consume the meat.

While not for sure, biologists speculate that the mineral salts that form on the copper jacket of the bullet made the bullets attractive to the deer, much like deer are drawn to a mineral lick. That definitely gives new meaning to the phrase, “feed ‘em lead.”

I hope these studies have perked your interest and taught you something that will make you a more knowledgeable deer hunter and manager. Despite thousands of studies on this fascinating species, there are still more questions than answers. That’s what makes studying and hunting them so exciting – you can never completely figure them out. For more information on deer research and management or to join the Quality Deer Management Association, call 800-209-3337 or visit us online at www.QDMA.com.

Editor's Note: Jonathan Shaw, ChrisRosenberry, Mark Conner, and Dr. Richard Lancia contributed to this report.

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