Excursive behaviors by female white-tailed deer during estrus at two mid-Atlantic sites

Abstract

Current research suggests that female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) will adopt sedentary breeding strategies in populations with an abundance of males and a more active mate-searching strategy in low-density or unbalanced herds. We used GPS collars to document the movements of 10 female deer during the breeding season at two Mid-Atlantic study sites that support high-density herds with nearly equal sex ratios. We calculated 95% and 50% seasonal and weekly kernel home ranges and the daily percentage of points located outside of the seasonal home range (SHR).

Citation

Kolodzinski, Jeffrey J.; Tannenbaum, Lawrence V.; Muller, Lisa I.; Osborn, David A.; Adams, Kent A.; Conner, Mark C.; Ford, W. Mark; Miller, Karl V. 2010. Excursive behaviors by female white-tailed deer during estrus at two mid-Atlantic sites. American Midland Naturalist. 163: 366-373.