The White-tailed Deer: A comprehensive study

            Managing the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population is a difficult task in Pennsylvania.  There are many groups of individuals involved, making it nearly impossible to reach consensus.  Many people enjoy having these visitors in their backyard, because then they can observe them.  Hunters are usually the first to say there are not enough deer.  Nevertheless, biologists believe that a sound ecosystem must me considered above all else.

                The white-tailed deer population was estimated at the Montour Preserve through a series of sampling techniques, including browse surveys, point quarter surveys, tenth acre circle surveys, fecal pellet counts, and spotlight surveys.  From compiling this data over several years, we can observe that the deer population was over its initial carrying capacity.  According to the herbaceous studies, it is increasing, but the spotlight surveys suggest decline in the population.

                The opportunity to study deer at the Montour Preserve via radio telemetry was not an option.  However, I was given the chance to study deer at a private farm with an enclosure.  While this study was primarily used for becoming comfortable with the telemetry equipment, this data reflected how much each deer moved and where they spent the majority of their time within the enclosure.  Further studies within this environment may allow Preserve personnel to make more educated guesses about better management techniques for their own deer population.