Register      Login
Wildlife Research Wildlife Research Society
Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > WR > WR04090
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 33(1)

Movements of female white-tailed deer to bait sites in West Virginia, USA

Tyler A. Campbell A E , Christopher A. Langdon B C , Benjamin R. Laseter A , W. Mark Ford D , John W. Edwards B and Karl V. Miller A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.

B Wildlife and Fisheries, Division of Forestry, Box 6125, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.

C Present address: United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Roseburg District, 777 NW Garden Valley Boulevard, Roseburg, OR 97470, USA.

D United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, Box 404, Parsons, WV 26287, USA.

E Corresponding author. Email: Tyler.A.Campbell@aphis.usda.gov

Wildlife Research 33(1) 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR04090
Submitted: 6 October 2004  Accepted: 9 January 2006   Published: 7 March 2006

Abstract

We present a comparison of movements of adult female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in response to seasonal bait sites in the central Appalachians of West Virginia, USA. Our objectives were to compare bait-site use among seasons, evaluate home-range and core-area sizes between baiting and non-baiting periods, and compare distance from the geographic centres of activity to nearest bait site between baiting and non-baiting periods. From June 2000 to May 2001, we radio-monitored 52 deer and determined their use of 29 seasonal bait sites with automated camera systems. We collected 6461 locations and 1333 photographic observations of radio-collared deer. Bait-site use did not differ among four seasonal baiting periods. Additionally, home-range and core-area sizes did not differ between baiting and non-baiting periods. However, deer shifted their centres of activity closer to bait sites during baiting periods. High variability in deer behaviour should be considered when implementing deer-management activities that require all deer to use bait sites, such as infrared-triggered camera surveys.


Acknowledgments

We appreciate the financial support provided by the MeadWestvaco Corporation, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, and the USA Department of Agriculture, National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (grant 00-35101-9284). We are grateful to J. L. Crum, P. D. Keyser and D. A. Osborn for providing logistical assistance. Helpful comments to earlier drafts of this manuscript were provided by C. E. Comer and J. D. Taylor. Deer were captured and handled under the auspices of Scientific Collection Permits 43-1999 and 16-2000 from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.


References

Annual Meeting of the Southeast Deer Study Group (2004). Southeastern deer harvest summaries for the 2002–2003 season. Proceedings of the Annual Southeastern Deer Study Group 27, 56–61.
Darrow D. A. (1993). Effects of baiting on deer movement and activity. M.Sc. Thesis, Mississippi State University, MS, USA.

Environmental Systems Research Institute (1999). ‘ARCVIEW. Version 3.2.’ (Environmental Systems Research Institute: Redlands, CA.)

Fenneman N. M. (1938). ‘Physiography of the Eastern United States.’ (McGraw-Hill: New York.)

Fischer J. R. (1996). White-tailed deer herd health check on the Westvaco Wildlife and Ecosystem Research Forest. Final Report to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Charleston, WV, USA

Ford, W. M. , and Rodrigue, J. L. (2001). Soricid abundance in partial overstory removal harvests and riparian areas in an industrial forest landscape of the central Appalachians. Forest Ecology and Management 152, 159–168.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hooge P. N. , and Eichenlaub B. (1997). Animal movement extension to ARCVIEW. Version 1.1. U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK, USA.

Jacobson, H. A. , Kroll, J. C. , Browning, R. W. , Koerth, B. H. , and Conway, M. H. (1997). Infrared-triggered cameras for censusing white-tailed deer. Wildlife Society Bulletin 25, 547–556.
Langdon C. A. (2001). A comparison of white-tailed deer population estimation methods in West Virginia. M.Sc. Thesis, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.

Langenau E. E. Jr , Flegerler E. J. Jr , and Hill H. R. (1985). Deer hunter’s opinion survey, 1984. Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division Report No. 3012, Lansing, MI, USA.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2002). Climatological data, West Virginia, volume 110. Environmental Data Service, Asheville, NC, USA.

SAS Institute (1989). ‘SAS/STAT User’s Guide. Version 6.’ 4th edn. (SAS Institute, Inc.: Cary, NC.)

Severinghaus, C. A. (1949). Tooth development and wear as criteria of age in white-tailed deer. Journal of Wildlife Management 13, 195–216.
Silverman B. W. (1986). ‘Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis.’ (Chapman Hall: London.)

Synatzske D. R. (1981). Effects of baiting on white-tailed deer hunting success. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Report, Project W-109-R-4, Austin, TX, USA.

Van Brackle, M. D. , Marchinton, R. L. , Ware, G. O. , Nettles, V. F. , Linhart, S. B. , Ruth, C. R. , and Rogers, L. O. (1995). Oral biomarking of a supplementally-fed herd of free-ranging white-tailed deer. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 49, 372–382.
Williamson S. J. (2000). ‘Feeding wildlife … just say no!’ (Wildlife Management Institute Publications: Washington, DC.)

Worton, B. J. (1989). Kernel methods for estimating the utilization distribution in home-range studies. Ecology 70, 164–168.