Behaviors of The Whitetail Deer

History of Whitetail Deer
Fossil records have dated the whitetail deer back to the mid tertiary period. They have survived for 2 million years through their adaptive behaviors. They graze for food while seeking refuge in scattered clumps of trees. They are the most abundant herbivore in North America. There are 38 different subspecies of whitetail deer in the Americas. Through the years they have developed certain behavioral adaptations that have allowed for their survival. They have very good senses and when they are in danger will use there quick speed to run away. They are also consistent in using well know trails for movement to and from feeding and in getaways. They have several tactics to loose a predator chasing them one is to cross over shallow waters the other is to cross other deer trails. Both are done so the predator will loose the deer’s scent.

Research Procedure

In conducting this research I first identified an area of study, the whitetail deer and their behaviors, with respect to the environment. To conduct observation I went to a Farm out in Henry County. I would sit in a tree stand as to avoid direct interference and watch for deer. If deer were sighted I would mark the time and record their behavior, walking, feeding, bedding down, or spooked. When I was done with that days observations I would get weather conditions form the underground weather website and enter it into the data spreadsheet. Analysis was done on the data. No deer were harmed during this research project.

Introduction to Area Researched

The Department of Fish and Wildlife breaks the state up into 4 zones depending on the size of the deer herds. Each zone has specific hunting regulations intended to help control the deer herd in that area. The farm in Henry County is classified as zone 1, which means that the deer herd in this area is large. The farm is around 370 acres and is mostly fields with broken wood patches. It is quite hilly with the fields on top and woods in the valleys.

General Behavioral Observations

The general behavioral observations seen was that deer would be seen in the woods near their food source the fields. More deer are seen in the early hunting season September and October. Where as by November the deer are rarely seen in daylight hours. They tend to move in groups of 3-6, usually consisting of 1-2 does and their fawns. Bucks were rarely seen but when sighted they were alone. Most of the deer in the study was seen foraging for food mainly acorns, or walking through the woods to get to the fields for feeding. During the day you would occasionally see a deer bedded down or one that was running through the woods because it was spooked. In general the deer were seen right before or after sunrise or sunset.

Data Analysis

The sex ratio between buck and does is quite bad, but as expected. There were very few bucks seen, this doesn’t mean there not there because they are the more secretive sex. They tend to move alone during the mating season, but will move together during the summer month. Does on the other hand are usually seen in small herds.

The estimated age of the deer shows that many of the older deer are not seen as frequently or not even at all. These deer are also more elusive and through age have developed a greater sense of danger and are better at escape. These estimations were based on the size of the deer sighted.

The moon phase was studied to see if it had any direct relationship to the movement of the deer. We can see that most of the movement occurred when the moon would not be very bright in the First and Last Quarter Phases. Here the deer could travel through the wood relatively unseen by their predators.

Most of the deer were seen between 7 and 7:30 PM in the early part of my study due to the longer daylight hours. Later on in my study I began to see that the deer’s peak hours were between 5 and 5:30 PM due to the shorter daylight hours. There were always sporadic sightings of deer in-between these two peak hours. When morning observation took place the peak hour was between 7 and 8 AM.

It was noted that most of the deer would be moving if he barometric pressure was between 30.06 and 30.15. The deer can sense a change in the pressure and therefore know when a front will strike and will prepare by getting enough food and water before the fort moves in so that it can seek shelter when the storm hits.

The deer were seen moving at all both temperature extremes the two peek temperatures were in the 70-80’s F to the low 20-30 F. This data is not very helpful in determining deer movement behavior.

This graph shows the deer’s activity in relation to the sunrise and sunset. You see that the most activity is seen after sunset. The deer still seem to be active up to 2hrs past sunset. This supports the theory that the deer become nocturnal during parts of the year. You also see the same trend that the majority of deer move 0-2 hours after sunrise.

The deer were mainly seen when the winds were around 5- 8 mph.

The deer were seen moving mostly when the wind was blowing out of the northeast or form the south. Wind direction is important because they rely on their sense of smell to warn them to danger.

Conclusions

The number of deer are seen les as the season goes on because they o nocturnal to avoid predation. Deer were usually seen moving into or cross wind so that they could get a heads up on intruders or predators scents in the wind. Bucks were rarely seen because of the bad buck to doe ratio. This ratio decrease the competition for mating and therefore decrease their need to make their presence know in the deer herd. Overall deer movements seem to be governed by day-to-day changes in the environmental conditions.