Introductory
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Odocoileus virginianus | White-Tailed Deer 



ABBREVIATION : 
ODVI

COMMON NAMES : 
   white-tailed deer
   whitetail
   deer
   Columbian white-tailed deer
   Key deer
   Coues deer
   Texas white-tailed deer
   sandhill deer
   common deer
   jumping deer 
   flag-tailed deer
   bannertail
   long-tailed deer
   Virginia white-tailed deer
   Virginia deer


TAXONOMY : 
There are 38 subspecies of white-tailed deer in North, Central, and
South America.  Sixteen of these are found in the United States and
Canada.  Subspecies are distinguished by geographic location, body size,
coloration, antler growth, and physiological, biochemical, and
behavioral differences [2,21,24].  The North American subspecies
are listed below:

Odocoileus virginianus ssp. borealis
O. virginianus ssp. clavium  (Key deer)
O. virginianus ssp. couesi
O. virginianus ssp. dakotensis
O. virginianus ssp. hiltonensis  (Hilton Head white-tailed deer)
O. virginianus ssp. leucurus  (Columbian white-tailed deer)
O. virginianus ssp. macrourus
O. virginianus ssp. mcilhennyi
O. virginianus ssp. nigribarbis  (Blackbeard Island white-tailed deer)
O. virginianus ssp. ochrourus
O. virginianus ssp. osceola
O. virginianus ssp. seminolus
O. virginianus ssp. taurinsulae  (Bulls Island white-tailed deer)
O. virginianus ssp. texanus
O. virginianus ssp. venatorius  (Hunting Island white-tailed deer)
O. virginianus ssp. virginianus


ORDER : 
Artiodactyla

CLASS : 
Mammal

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
See OTHER STATUS

OTHER STATUS : 
Odocoileus virginianus leucurus and O. v. clavium are federally listed
as endangered.  Odocoileus virginianus hiltonensis, nigribarbis,
taurinsulae, and venatoria are federally listed as Category 2 subspecies
[61].

O. v. leucurus is endangered in Washington and Oregon, and O. v. clavium
is endangered in Florida [55,60,62].


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
S. A. Snyder, May 1991


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Snyder, S. A. 1991. Odocoileus virginianus. In: Remainder of Citation

WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Odocoileus virginianus | White-Tailed Deer 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
The white-tailed deer (whitetail) ranges from coast to coast across
North America.  However, it is not found along the southwestern coast of
the United States or the coast of British Columbia. The whitetail's
range also extends from central Canada south through South America, with
a small portion possibly extending north into the southern Northwest
Territories.  The whitetail has been introduced in the Virgin Islands
and other parts of the Caribbean.  The North American subspecies and
their distributions are listed below [2,24]:

ssp. borealis - from central Ontario and Quebec south to southern
                Illinois, and from central Minnesota to the East Coast
ssp. clavium - Florida Keys
ssp. couesi - central Arizona south through Mexico and southwestern 
              New Mexico
ssp. dakotensis - southern Northwest Territories west into central
                  Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and south through Alberta,
                  the Dakotas, eastern Montana, central Wyoming,
                  northern Colorado, and western Minnesota
ssp. hiltonensis - Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
ssp. leucurus - southwestern Washington and the western quarter of
                Oregon
ssp. macrourus - Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, northern Louisiana, eastern
                 Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, and southeastern South
                 Dakota
ssp. mcilhennyi - southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana
ssp. nigribarbis - Blackbeard Island, Georgia
ssp. ochrourus - British Columbia to western Alberta, south through
                 western Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington and Oregon,
                 western Wyoming, northern Utah, and possibly a fringe
                 of the border between northern California and Nevada
ssp. osceola - midwestern Florida, north into southern Alabama and
               Mississippi
ssp. seminolus - Florida
ssp. taurinsulae - Bulls Island, South Carolina
ssp. texanus - Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, western New Mexico
               and Colorado, and southeastern Wyoming
ssp. venatorius - Hunting Island, South Carolina
ssp. virginianus - Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennesee, North
                   Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and
                   Alabama


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak-pine
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES41 Wet grasslands


STATES : 


    
AK
	
AZ
    
AR
    
CO
    
CT
    
DE
    
FL
    
GA
    
ID


    
IL
    
IN
    
IA
    
KS
    
KY
    
LA
    
ME
    
MD
    
MA


    
MI
    
MN
    
MS
    
MO
    
MT
    
NE
    
NH
    
NJ
    
NM


    
NY
    
NC
    
ND
    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA
    
RI
    
SC


    
SD
    
TN
    
TX
    
VT
    
VA
    
WA
    
WV
    
WI
    
WY


    
VI
    

    

    

    

    

    

    







    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NB
    
NF
    
NT
    
NS
    
ON
    
PE
    
PQ


    
SK
    
YK
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    







    
MEXICO
    




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K001  Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir - hemlock forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
   K014  Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K025  Alder - ash forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K027  Mesquite bosque
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K031  Oak - juniper woodland
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K040  Saltbush - greasewood
   K042  Creosotebush - bursage
   K043  Paloverde - cactus shrub
   K044  Creosotebush - tarbush
   K045  Ceniza shrub
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K059  Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
   K060  Mesquite savanna
   K061  Mesquite - acacia savanna
   K062  Mesquite - live oak savanna
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K071  Shinnery
   K073  Northern cordgrass prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska Sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem - sacahuista prairie
   K078  Southern cordgrass prairie
   K079  Palmetto prairie
   K080  Marl - Everglades
   K081  Oak savanna
   K082  Mosaic of K074 and K100
   K083  Cedar glades
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K085  Mesquite - buffalograss
   K086  Juniper - oak savanna
   K087  Mesquite - oak savanna
   K088  Fayette prairie
   K089  Black Belt
   K090  Live oak - sea oats
   K091  Cypress savanna
   K092  Everglades
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K097  Southeastern spruce - fir forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K099  Maple - basswood forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K101  Elm - ash forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalacian oak forest
   K105  Mangrove
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K109  Transition between K104 and K106
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest
   K113  Southern floodplain forest
   K114  Pocosin
   K115  Sand pine scrub
   K116  Subtropical pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce - tamarack
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine - hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    28  Black cherry - maple
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    31  Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce - balsam fir
    34  Red spruce - Fraser fir
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    37  Northern white cedar
    39  Black ash - American elm - red maple
    40  Post oak - blackjack oak
    42  Bur oak
    43  Bear oak
    44  Chestnut oak
    45  Pitch pine
    46  Eastern redcedar
    50  Black locust
    51  White pine - chestnut oak
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    53  White oak
    55  Northern red oak
    57  Yellow poplar
    58  Yellow poplar - eastern hemlock
    59  Yellow poplar - white oak - northern red oak
    60  Beech - sugar maple
    61  River birch - sycamore
    62  Silver maple - American elm
    63  Cottonwood
    64  Sassafras - persimmon
    65  Pin oak - sweet gum
    66  Ashe juniper - redberry (Pinchot) juniper
    67  Mohrs ("shin") oak
    68  Mesquite
    69  Sand pine
    70  Longleaf pine
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    72  Southern scrub oak
    73  Southern redcedar
    74  Cabbage palmetto
    75  Shortleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    78  Virginia pine - oak
    79  Virginia pine
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    82  Loblolly pine - hardwood
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    84  Slash pine
    85  Slash pine - hardwood
    87  Sweet gum - yellow poplar
    88  Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
    89  Live oak
    91  Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
    92  Sweetgum - willow oak
    93  Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
    94  Sycamore - sweetgum - American elm
    95  Black willow
    97  Atlantic white-cedar
    98  Pond pine
   104  Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
   105  Tropical hardwoods
   106  Mangrove
   107  White spruce
   108  Red maple
   109  Hawthorn
   110  Black oak
   111  South Florida slash pine
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   203  Balsam poplar
   204  Black spruce
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   212  Western larch
   213  Grand fir
   215  Western white pine
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   221  Red alder
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   223  Sitka spruce
   224  Western hemlock
   225  Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
   226  Coastal true fir - hemlock
   227  Western redcedar - western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir - western hemlock
   233  Oregon white oak
   234  Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   236  Bur oak
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   238  Western juniper
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   240  Arizona cypress
   241  Western live oak
   242  Mesquite
   251  White spruce - aspen
   252  Paper birch
   253  Black spruce - white spruce
   254  Black spruce - paper birch


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Whitetails are extremely adaptable animals, inhabiting a variety of
plant communities from tropical jungles to hot, dry deserts, to
subarctic climates [24].  They are found just about anywhere forested
areas are interspersed with open fields, fruit orchards, or agricultural
land.  In the Northeast whitetails inhabit hardwood, conifer, and mixed
forests of pine (Pinus spp.), spruce (Picea spp.), fir (Abies spp.), or
maple (Acer spp.) and oak (Quercus spp.).  In the Southeast they inhabit
the southern pine-oak forests interspersed with swamps and bottomland.
In the Northwest whitetails inhabit pine-spruce-fir and western
red-cedar (Thuja plicata)-western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) forests.
In the Southwest whitetails inhabit mesquite (Prosopis spp.)-oak
savannas and shrub/grassland communities.  Whitetails also frequent
grasslands and agricultural lands of central North America
[3,6,7,12,17,18,23,26,39,41,45,47,48,51,54,56,57].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Odocoileus virginianus | White-Tailed Deer 



TIMING OF MAJOR LIFE HISTORY EVENTS : 
Mating Season - September through November, sometimes into January;
                breeding dates vary with latitude, occurring in mid to
                late winter in the South and earlier in the North
Gestation - about 6 to 7 months
Fawning Season - beginning in April and continuing through June,
                 depending on latitude; twinning occurs
Age of Maturity - females capable of reproducing at 6 to 7 months,
                  but usually do not breed until 1 1/2 years; yearling
                  males may not breed due to competition with older
                  bucks 
Lifespan - can live up to 20 years, but 10 years is considered old 
Antlers - males only; can be shed as early as mid-December;  
          sometimes not until March or April in young or unhealthy bucks
[21,24]


PREFERRED HABITAT : 
Whitetails are most frequently found near streambottoms, draws, swamps,
and other riparian areas.  They also frequent mixed deciduous and
coniferous forests at low to mid elevations with gentle slopes [50].
Elevations can range from sea level to 6,500 feet (1,981 m) [47].
Whitetails prefer to concentrate or "yard" in small to large groups in
regions where winter temperatures are cold and snow depth exceeds 18
inches (46 cm) [39].  "Yarding" usually occurs in dense, coniferous
stands near riparian areas having a southerly exposure.  These same
areas are passed down from mother to daughter and used year after year
[24].  Whitetails begin to "yard" in midwinter and remain together
through April or May, depending on the depth and duration of snow.  Deer
will use open areas in the winter but usually remain within a quarter
mile (0.4 km) of coniferous cover [21].  Whitetails are very adaptable
to disturbances, such as agriculture and forestry practices, and prefer
these areas if adequate forage and cover is available [24].  In the
southwestern United States whitetails tend to choose the pine-oak
montane forests at higher elevations [2].


COVER REQUIREMENTS : 
At northern latitudes whitetails need stands of mixed conifer and
deciduous trees with partial openings that provide both forage and
protection from cold winds and deep snows.  Forests that intercept about
50 percent of the snowfall and contain openings of 1 to 5 acres (0.4-2
ha) comprising 2 percent of the whitetail's forested range are most
beneficial [21,39].  In the Northeast, Hout and others [26] listed
conifer species in order of decreasing benefit for winter cover:
eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), white spruce (Picea glauca), red
spruce (Picea rubens), and balsam fir (Abies balsamea).  Whitetails rely
on subclimax stands to provide hiding cover and adequate forage.  At
southern latitudes whitetails do not usually migrate and use cover more
for hiding than for protection against severe weather [22].


FOOD HABITS : 
Whitetails are primarily browsers and eat a tremendous variety of plants
throughout their range.  Forage consumed is regionally specific and
usually consists of leaves, twigs, and stems of woody plants, as well as
mast, fruits, cultivated crops, and sometimes grasses and forbs.  They
have also been observed eating marine kelp [24], and eating scavenged
salmon in Glacier National Park [personal observation].  In the North
evergreens become important browse during winter.  Browse consumption is
highest when acorn mast is scarce and lowest when acorn mast is abundant
[21].  When whitetails can afford to be selective they tend to choose
the most nutritious plants [24].  Some of the most commonly browsed
plants are listed below:  maple, oak, spruce, pine, fir, northern
white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis), hazel (Corylus spp.), dogwood (Cornus
spp.), sumac (Rhus spp.), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), birch (Betula
spp.), poplar (Populus spp.), aspen (P. tremuloides), willow (Salix
spp.), cherry (Prunus spp.), juniper (Juniperus spp.), apple (Malus
spp.), persimmon (Diospyros spp.), hawthorne (Crataegus spp.), common
snowberry (Symphorocarpus albus), greenbrier (Smilax spp.), buffaloberry
(Shepherdia spp.), bearberry (Arctostaphylus uva-ursi), current (Ribes
spp.), rose (Rosa spp.), rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.), mahonia
(Mahonia spp.), yaupon (Ilex spp.), low panicum grasses (Panicum spp.),
broomweed (Gutierrezia spp.), saltbush (Atriplex spp.), various species
of cactus, ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.), and viburnum (Viburnum spp.).
Whitetails will also eat fleshy berries of cherry, raspberry (Rubus
spp.), elder (Sambucus spp.), and huckleberry and blueberry (Vaccinium
spp.)  Whitetails also eat cultivated crops, most notably corn, alfalfa,
and wheat, and vegetables and flowers in gardens [6,7,12,17,18,21,23,24,
26,39,41,43,45,47,48,51,54,56,57].


PREDATORS : 
Whitetail predators include humans, coyotes (Canis latrans), domestic
dogs (Canis familiaris), wolves (Canis lupus), black bears (Ursus
americanus), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), mountains lions (Felis
concolor), lynx (Felis lynx), and bobcats (Felis rufus).  Predators
having less of an impact on whitetail populations include foxes (Vulpes
spp.), fishers (Martes pennanti), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), and
bald eagles (Haliaetus leucocephalus) [40].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Lyon and Jensen [37] reported on numerous studies of the effects of
clearcutting on deer and concluded that effects are unpredictable
because they are highly variable in all locations and habitats.  In
general they determined that slash over 1.5 feet (0.5 m) deep would
hinder deer movement.  Whitetails' responses to openings are a function
of forage, cover, size, type (natural or cut), and the behavior of a
specific population in any one area.  Halls [21] reported that cutting
units should vary in shape and size but should not be more than 200
yards (181 m) wide.  Also, cutting should promote a mix of various age
classes.  Openings should be maintained by heavy thinning at an early
stand age to encourage forage production.  In the Swan River Valley,
Montana, Freedman and Habeck [15] concluded that 20 to 40 years is
needed for recovery before a logged site can become significant winter
deer range.  This is because deep winter snows make browse unavailable
until sufficient snow-intercepting canopy is established.  However,
preferred browse species will usually become available in clearcut areas
only if they were a part of the predisturbance vegetative community
[59].

Domestic and feral dogs cause severe mortality in whitetail populations.
Fawns and pregnant does are the most vulnerable to dog attacks,
especially during the winter when snow is deep or crusty [21,24,40].

Tens of thousands of whitetails are killed annually by vehicles.  Deer
are also vulnerable to viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases, as well as
parasites [21,24,38].  Whitetails are host to a parasitic meningeal worm
(Parelaphostrongylus tenuis), which is harmful to other cervids but not
to whitetails [2].

Whitetails inflict serious damage on commercial and private crops, as
well as on tree seedlings planted for regeneration projects.  Deer can
entirely destroy or inhibit the regeneration of some tree species
through overbrowsing [21,24,38,52].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Odocoileus virginianus | White-Tailed Deer 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Fast-moving fires can confuse, trap, and kill deer [4,8].


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
The effects of fire on whitetail habitat have been well documented.
Much of the literature reports in detail on the foraging behavior of
whitetails following fire.  In general, whitetails are seen foraging
more frequently on burned sites than adjacent unburned sites
[20,29,30,36].  Patchy burns that create a mosaic of browse and cover
are usually beneficial to whitetail populations [11,14,29,31,42,46].
Historically, logging followed by fire played a major role in the
westward expansion of the whitetail's range [9].  In many areas fire
suppression has led to a decrease in forage quality and subsequently
quantity as early seral communities are replaced with unpalatable browse
or browse that grows out of reach of deer [14,15,19].  Many studies have
reported an increase in plant nutrients following fire, most notably
potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and potash.  Crude fiber and protein
also tend to increase, as well as water and fat content
[11,20,21,32,35,36,44,49,53].  These nutrient increases tend to be
temporary, only lasting a few years before returning to preburn levels.

Lay [35,36] conducted several burning studies in the southern pine
forests of the United States.  He reported that in the South, browse
comprises less than half of whitetail diets; therefore, when burning,
careful consideration must be given to the fire effects on fruits and
mast, which are important whitetail food.  Thill and others [53]
reported that in the southern Coastal Plain, forage quality is a
limiting factor for whitetail populations, due to the heavily leached
acid soils.  Burning temporarily improves forage quality but reduces
foraging efficiency and the availability of fruits within the 1st year
after burning.

A study in northern Idaho showed that during January, March, and April,
whitetails chose to forage in unburned Douglas fir/ninebark (Pseudotsuga
menziesii/Physocarpus malvaceous) habitat types where the average
distance to cover was 4.5 feet (1.5 m) [29].  Ninebark is relatively
unpalatable to whitetails and is eaten more frequently on burned sites.
Burning these types may reduce their value to whitetails until cover
similar to that of the unburned sites is regenerated (3-4 years).
Redstem ceanothus (Ceanothus sanguineus), a highly valued deer forage,
increased dramatically after both spring and fall burning, with greater
increases after fall burning [46].  Burning jack pine (Pinus banksiana)
plantations in Nebraska resulted in a decrease of whitetails in the
burned areas due to a reduction in cover [58].


FIRE USE : 
Prescribed fire is a commonly used tool for whitetail habitat
improvement [9].  It can be used to maintain or prevent the development
of certain vegetation types and create a diversity of age classes to
provide forage and cover [52].  Prescribed fire can also be used to
reduce slash, which impedes deer movement, and to reduce duff in areas
where quick duff accumulation can prevent growth of understory forage
species [10].  Halls [21] recommended burning in late winter or early
spring to promote resprouting of vegetation in spring and summer.
Summer fires can reduce availability of forage important in fall and
winter.  He also stated that fires in southern pine forests should be
excluded until trees are 15 feet (4.6 m) tall and then burned at 3- to
5-year intervals to keep browse within reach.  Burning units should be
kept to 74 acres (30 ha) or less [28].  Lay [35] also suggested spring
burning in southern pine forests but stated that long-term results of
repeated burning are detrimental to forage species.  DeByle [10]
recommended burning aspen stands at 40- to 80-year intervals for optimum
deer habitat.  Units should be 10 to 40 acres (4-16 ha) to prevent
overbrowsing and should be maintained in varying age classes.

Armstrong [1] recommended burning every 7 to 10 years in the Edwards
Plateau Region of Texas.  He stated that reducing the whitetail
population by as much as 50 percent before burning would prevent
overbrowsing in postburn areas and would not be detrimental to the deer
population.  Merrill [42] suggested burning grand fir (Abies grandis)/
pachistima (Pachistima myrsinites) types during spring or fall every 10
years to rejuvenate decadent plants [42].

The Minnesota Department of Conservation listed five burning practices
for improving whitetail habitat in northern hardwood forests [9]:

(1)  Burn slash to remove it as an obstacle and prepare the seedbed.
(2)  Burn decadent aspen to provide browse for about 5 years.
(3)  Burn 10 to 20 acre (4-8 ha) patches adjacent to deer yards during
     dormant season to encourage shrub and hardwood tree sprouts.
(4)  Reburn small areas to maintain openings in forests.
(5)  Identify areas where wildfires could be left to burn.


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

References for species: Odocoileus virginianus

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Related categories for Wildlife Species: Odocoileus virginianus | White-Tailed Deer