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

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