I monitored cause-specific mortality and factors influencing mortality risk for white-tailed deer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA, during two high mortality risk periods: adult female deer during Feb–May, and fawns from birth to 6 months. I observed high rates of predation and starvation for adult female deer during Apr–May, suggesting that late winter represents a survival bottleneck due to nutritional declines. A strong negative relationship existed between snow free days during late winter and mortality risk. Predation was the dominant mortality source for fawns but predation risk decreased with larger birth mass. Black bears and coyotes accounted for most fawn kills at the population level, but wolves and bobcats had greatest per-individual fawn kill rates. My results suggest predation was the dominant mortality source for fawns and adult female deer, but multiple predator species were important and nutritional condition of deer influenced their vulnerability to predation.

Factors affecting morphometrics and epiphyseal closure are important in understanding regional variation and growth of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). I compared body and antler growth from birth to 3 years of age in captive, first-generation, male white-tailed deer from three regions with varying soil quality and deer morphometrics. I also determined gender and age effects on epiphyseal closure timing in captive white-tailed deer. I found regional morphological variation present in first-generation male deer, which may be caused by regional genetic variation or lingering maternal effects. Determining cause of regional morphological variation will require data collection through a second-generation of males raised on the controlled diet. Epiphyseal closure timing was associated positively with age. Two of the four epiphyseal plates examined were affected by gender, with females closing prior to males. Morphometric and epiphyseal data confirm that age and gender affect epiphyseal closure timing in white-tailed deer.

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Little information is available to nonindustrial-private forest (NIPF) owners regarding economic tradeoffs between managing pine plantations for timber production or wildlife habitat. Loblolly (Pinus taeda) and longleaf (Pinus palustris) pine plantations were modeled to quantify economic tradeoffs for competing management scenarios utilizing densities aimed at wildlife habitat or timber production in Mississippi. Models contained a range of site indices, planting densities, and rotation lengths for timber maximization and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) or northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) habitat production. All management scenarios in loblolly plantations produced positive Land Expectation Values (LEVs), while one fifth of the management scenarios in longleaf plantations produced positive LEVs. Comparison to the regional hunting lease rate the compensatory lease rates from the study could be realized, making wildlife management as valuable as timber management. The results of this study will help landowners be more informed about economic tradeoffs when making management decisions on their property.

Human activity affects white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) movement and habitat selection during all times of the year, but knowledge is limited regarding how human risk affects white-tailed deer during the summer and winter. During spring and summer, variation in patch selection varied. Natural vegetation was selected for early in the year, with anthropogenic forages being important for deer use during the summer. During the winter, deer responded to different levels of risk. As hunter risk increased on the landscape, deer altered selection of the landscape. Deer avoided areas that were heavily used by hunters, using areas containing less hunter risk. Use of land cover classifications varied temporally, with cover selected for during the day and forage selected for at night. I have demonstrated that deer respond to human activity on the landscape, by selecting for anthropogenic foraging sources during the spring and summer and avoiding patches that contain risk.

In a heterogenous environment, an animal will increase its search effort in areas where resources are abundant. This behavior can be detected in a path by a decrease in speed, an increase in tortuosity, or both. First passage time, the amount of time required for an animal to traverse a circle of a given radius, or buffer, is a common metric for quantifying spatial and temporal changes along a path. Historical methodology involving first passage time limits the utility of this metric. Here we instead follow the methodology put forth by Street et al. (2018) and use a power-law model to characterize the relationship between first passage time and the scale of the first passage time buffer radii. We then test the model’s applicability across multiple movement modes using simulated data and further explore its utility by applying it to a dataset of deer movement and the associated landscape data.

Timber and wildlife habitat management may be conflicting objectives, but both benefit from increasing light in bottomland forests through harvesting and midstory control, and a target residual basal area may be used to optimize both. Six areas were used to evaluate effects of partial harvest and midstory control on oak regeneration, diameter growth of residual trees, and white-tailed deer carrying capacity. Partial harvest treatments consisted of residual basal areas of 70ft2/ac (16.07m2/ha), 60ft2/ac (13.77m2/ha), 50ft2/ac (11.48 m2/ha), 40ft2/ac (9.18m2/ha), 30ft2/ac (6.89m2/ha), and untreated controls. All partial harvest areas received midstory control using injection with imazapyr. Available light was related to residual basal area (R2 = 0.808). Treatments with 50ft2/ac residual basal area exhibited the optimal amount of oak regeneration and white-tailed deer carrying capacity. Treatments with 30ft2/ac had greatest diameter growth. This research provided guidelines for managers that wish to optimize white-tailed deer habitat and oak regeneration.