Trev while you may not have received many responses to your comments, I'd be willing to bet your post are read by many.
White-tailed deer know no boundaries but, your deer and my deer all have the same instincts. White-Tail Doe do no not live in large herds (exceptions will occur) but rather, in family like groups ruled by a matriarch while buck live in bachelor groups.
Situations such as a heavy winter, or onslaught of a predator, can make the families band together in areas out of their normal territory until, such time as the threat has passed.
If one were to observe the habits of a heard of White-Tailed Deer feeding in a field, it is not difficult to pick out individual families and/or the family matriarchs. Keeping in mind that two doe bumping heads most likely are not leaders vying for dominance but rather, a matriarch scolding a family member. Of course, given the right time of year, the two that appear to be fighting could be (antlerless) buck practicing and honing their skills.
At any given time, the families will begin to leave the field, each returning to their respective core area. Unless of course, some threat, causes the animals to remain in the larger group where there is safety in numbers.
Given the (approx.) number of deer living in a square mile is 30, not uncommon for 5 groups or families to be found. These families can be seen occupying their respective core area until such time the deer are forced to move and band together. Hunters or other predators reduce the size of one group, those deer remaining join a second group, and this scenario continues until the families are reduced from 5 down to 1 or 2, now living somewhere within that square mile in a safer environment.
Most likely, any remaining family members in my little piece of Penn's Woods, have joined surviving members of other groups and they certainly have found core areas, other then my back yard.
These deer will continue to reproduce, enlarging the heard, eventually reforming families that will break off and move to other parts of the area, provided, there is no longer the threat to their survival. Therefore, I begin seeing one deer, then two, etc., and as long as the predator is controlled the deer numbers will increase, producing more deer families that will eventually spread to other areas.
Unfortunately my little piece of Penn's Woods has had and will be subject to a influx of predators I attribute to 2 reasons 1, large families moving into the area and 2, the crossbow.
Eventually, my sq. mi. area will be void of the White-Tail and when that happens, the predators will travel to new areas seeking the ever elusive PA. White-Tailed Deer.
Keeping in mind, many of the predators are between 9 and 16 years of age hunting both archery and gun, legally shooting any deer, including young buck that will never see the age of one year let alone 2 1/2. Add to that, all the other hunters legally shooting antlerless deer including young buck having no horns.
I'm thinking the odds are in favor of seeing fewer and fewer buck in the woods and without the male, we all know the species cannot survive outside of safe havens, where the deer will be found in numbers.
Won't be the first time there was a need to restock
Odocoileus virginianus!
post edited by BeenThereDoneThat. - 2016/03/20 10:52:33