Donnie E. Harmel

We compared antler characteristics and body mass at 4.5 years of age (adult) of 140 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) reared in a captive herd at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (Hunt, Texas) from 1973 to 1990. Each yearling (1.5 years old) was classified as spike- (N = 43) or fork-antlered (N = 97), and its live body mass recorded. Fork-antlered yearlings were further partitioned into 3-5 points (N = 33) and ≥6 points (N = 64) subclasses based on the number of antler points ≥2.54 cm in length. All deer were reared in 1.62-ha enclosures and maintained on a 16% crude protein diet...

Body weight and antler measurements collected from pen-reared white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Hunt, Texas, indicated that yearling bucks with <6 antler points are genetically inferior for both antler development and body weight. Simple correlation coefficients for body weight and total antler points were 0.59, 0.51, and 0.48 at 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 years, respectively (P < 0.0001). The regression coefficients for body weight (kg) on number of antler points at 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 years of age for 60 deer were 2.47, 1.71, and 2.36 kg/point,...

Fawning dates of penned, known-age, Texas white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus texanus) were recorded over a 3-year period. The peak 14-day fawning period for 27 3-year-old-plus females was 10 June-23 June with a mean fawning date (MFD) of 19 June. Peak fawning period for 26 2-year-old females was 24 June-7 July with aM FD of 8 July. The fawning peak for 36 I-year-olds included 2 14-day periods between 8 July-4 August with a MFD of 3 August. The MFD was significantly different (P <0.01) between all age-classes and between individual age-classes (P < 0.05).