Recipient Organization
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
108 M. WHITE SMITH HALL
AUBURN,AL 36849
Performing Department
Foresty & Wildlife Sciences
Non Technical Summary
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) hunting has become a major source of revenue for private landowners and businesses in Alabama in recent years. However, the potential for agricultural and forest landowners to generate income from deer hunting leases and commercial hunting is dependent on their ability to produce quality deer (e.g., large antlers) and quality hunting. Specifically, little information exists regarding reproductive success in adult, male white-tailed deer. Many landowners and managers attempt to improve the quality of their herd through selective harvest of male deer, but the information on which they base their decisions is normally not founded in data generated through scientific experimentation. Rather, the basis for most selective harvest criteria are based on speculation, assumption, and rumor, most of which has been generated by the non-hunting public. Additionally, food plot programs, which often serve as the basis for nutritional enhancement/habitat management, are not strongly supported by data generated through scientific research. Most data have been developed by for-profit corporations in an effort to promote sales of specific products, and thus may not be applicable to much of the general public. Unfortunately, many users of this information do not have the level of knowledge of wildlife management to make well informed decisions regarding the effectiveness of advertised products and other information gleaned from questionable sources. As a consequence they often perceive this information as valid and unbiased "silver bullet" solutions for producing large-antlered deer. The long-term goal of our research is to generate sound science-based data for improving white-tailed deer herd and habitat management programs, and to develop a comprehensive outreach program to ensure that unbiased information is available to landowners in Alabama and the Southeast. This has the potential to substantially improve the ability of agricultural and forest landowners to generate supplemental income from their land. Our specific objectives are to: (1) determine the physical and genetic characteristics that influence reproductive success in adult, male white-tailed deer, (2) examine the impact of breeding effort of adult, male white-tailed deer on condition and breeding success in subsequent years, (3) determine optimal cropping systems for feeding deer in the Southeast, and (4) develop a comprehensive outreach program aimed at enhancing the ability of forest landowners in Alabama and the Southeast to more effectively manage deer populations and generate supplemental income from their land through deer management. This research will be conducted at the newly-constructed AU Deer Lab, a 430-acre deer research facility that will enable us to intensively study a "free-ranging" population of uniquely identified white-tailed deer. This facility incorporates the control normally found in a captive facility with the behavior of a free-ranging herd, and will enable us to address biological and management issues that we have previously been unable to address.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) hunting is a major source of economic revenue for private landowners and businesses in Alabama. Approximately 10% of Alabamians hunt deer, spending millions of dollars annually. Total expenditures for hunting by Alabama residents in 2001 exceeded $1.1 billion (U.S. Department of the Interior 2002): these estimates do not include expenditures for food plots which may exceed expenditures for hunting. Alabama ranks fifth in hunting expenditures in the U.S. Alabama is considered a premier deer hunting destination for hunters from other states, nonresident hunters spend millions of dollars in Alabama each year. For private landowners in Alabama, land leases for deer hunting can provide a significant source of supplemental income. Lease rates are based upon the ability of the land to produce large-antlered male deer. In order to prescribe harvest and habitat management guidelines to effectively manage local deer populations, an understanding of the relationships among reproductive success of males, impact of breeding effort, and the relative role of supplemental food plots in deer nutrition is critical. To date, our knowledge of white-tailed deer and deer management has been based on research conducted in small (0.5-1.0 acres) enclosures or with free-ranging animals with radio telemetry. Whereas these studies contributed substantially to our understanding of deer management, the inherent biases associated with these studies (behavior of confined animals not reflective of wild animals) prevented investigation of processes such as reproductive success, food habits, and foraging ecology. Furthermore, most studies were conducted over relatively short time periods (2-5 years), thus precluding examination of long term impacts or consequences that may become manifested in the population (e.g., genetic manipulation due to prolonged selective harvest). Most research on deer food plots has been conducted by for-profit companies, and an electronic bibliographic search engine (AGRICOLA) yielded no refereed journal article titles on the subject. This research will provide unbiased data on nutritional value of food plots and use by deer. In October, 2007, we completed construction on a 430-acre deer research facility that will enable us to intensively study a free-ranging (as logistically possible) population of uniquely identified white-tailed deer. This facility incorporates the control of a captive facility with the behavior of a free-ranging herd that will enable us to address biological and management issues that we have previously been unable to address. As part of this facility, we have two, 2-acre exclosures for determining optimal cropping systems for feeding deer, i.e., crop/forage plant material mixes, cropping sequences, tillage system, etc. OBJECTIVES 1. Determine the physical and genetic characteristics that influence reproductive success in adult, male white-tailed deer. 2. Examine the impact of breeding effort of adult, male white-tailed deer on condition and breeding success in subsequent years. 3. Determine optimal cropping systems for feeding deer in the Southeast.
Project Methods
All research will take place at the Piedmont Substation (AAES) located in Camp Hill, Alabama. In October, 2007, work will be completed on a 430-acre deer enclosure. This facility will enable deer research that incorporates the control inherent in captive facilities with the behavior found free-ranging deer populations. Deer will be supplied ad libitum with supplemental feed (pelleted feed with 16% crude protein) at 5 feeding stations dispersed across the facility. In addition, deer will have access to native forage and forages available in food plots to ensure they are maintained on an adequate nutritional plane. Each year (November-February), all individuals in the population will be captured annually with nets prebaited with whole corn (Ditchkoff et al. 2001b). At time of capture, we will collect body and antler measurements, as well as blood and tissue, and each deer will be aged (Severinghaus 1949). Tissue samples will be analyzed for 19 microsatellites (DeYoung et al. 2003), as well as characteristics of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which is considered a measure of genetic quality (Ditchkoff et al. 2001a). Tissue samples will enable us to examine the genetic lineage of each deer by comparing microsatellite data among deer (DeYoung et al. 2003), and thus we will be able to determine parentage of each fawn that is born. At the time of initial capture, we will subdermally insert a passive integrated transponder (e.g., PIT tag) into each deer. These tags are similar to the identification technology used with domestic cats and dogs. At each feeding site, we will have a platform scale linked to a PIT tag reader. We will be able to remotely weigh animals, document animal identification, and record time and date. By measuring weight loss throughout the breeding season, we can assess relative effort expended by each male to obtain breeding rights. We intend to advance sustainability of Alabama farms by identification of deer food plot systems that give farmers a competitive advantage in renting hunting land owing to optimized crop selection and management methods. Within the 430 acre high-fenced area we have identified an upland and bottomland site to conduct our food plot system research. We have built two exclosures that will enable investigation of crop establishment factors with and without deer feeding pressure. Both cool and warm season feed/forage crops will be examined in a variety of plant material mixes, sequences, etc. for feeding deer. These cropping systems will be examined under both conventional tillage and no-till. Experiment design at the upland and bottomland site will be a split-plot with tillage (n = 2) as main plots and cropping system (n = 10) as subplots. Data collected will include deer preference via photography (infrared-triggered digital cameras), crop yield (biomass), and crop quality (protein and energy content). The research site will not only be used to collect data, but will also serve as an outdoor teaching laboratory for students and for extension programming.