Wildlife: New and classic research documents white-tail science
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Over time, many hunters develop an expertise about certain species. For some it's waterfowl; for others turkeys are the obsession. But for many, if not most, it's the white-tail deer.
Such expertise comes from years of field experience. It's much more than getting into the woods a few weeks each December. It comes from becoming a student of the animal. The most successful hunters learn to think like deer because they understand how deer live.
Unfortunately few hunters can study deer full time. So it's nice to know there are classic references available from which to glean white-tail natural history.
One of the first and best of these references was "The Deer of North America," edited by Walter Taylor (Stackpole, 1956). Any biologist who studied wildlife management in the 1960s probably owns this book.
"The George Reserve Deer Herd" by Dale McCullough (University of Michigan Press, 1979) describes the population biology of a deer herd confined within a 2-square-mile fence. I'm unaware that such a study has ever been replicated.
"White-tailed Deer: Ecology and Management," edited by Lowell Halls (Stackpole, 1984), is encyclopedic in its breadth of coverage, but thousands of research papers about white-tails have been published since 1984.
That brings us to the recent publication of "Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer," edited by David Hewitt (CRC Press, 2011). It is an instant classic that updates our knowledge and understanding of the most studied large mammal species in the world. Though priced at nearly $120, out of the casual wildlife enthusiast's budget, this tome will be purchased, read, and studied by wildlife biologists and managers, outdoor writers and the most avid deer hunters. It deserves space on the shelves of every Pennsylvania public library and deer camp.
Hewitt has assembled the work of 35 white-tail experts, including Penn State's Duane R. Diefenbach. The book covers white-tail anatomy, physiology, nutrition, population dynamics and ecology across the animal's range from central Canada to South America. It also reviews the history of management of white-tailed deer, from early Native Americans through restocking efforts in the mid 1900s, and more recent deer population spikes that are increasingly difficult to manage.
First Published January 29, 2012 12:00 am
