John A. Morrison

Midsummer daytime bedsites of white-tailed deer (Odocileus virginianus texanus) fawns in southwestern Oklahoma were analyzed to determine the species composition of the surrounding vegetation. Vegetative composition varied between bedsites and range sites, but fawns did not bed in areas dominated by short vegetation. Fawns used 5 different range sites for daytime bedsites. Bedsites located on the 2 savannah range sites had higher percentages of woody vegetation than did bedsites located in the 3 open range sites. Grasses and grass-likes were the most abundant plant forms around all...

Average diurnal range sizes for 10 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns indicate an increase from 3.3 ha at 1 week of age to 52.0 ha at 12 weeks of age. Distance between successive die! locations increased with age, but total daytime movements did not increase with age, therefore increasing diurnal range size appears to result from increasing nocturnal movements as fawns grow older. Partial cause for large diurnal ranges of fawns in the Wichita Mountains is believed to be the open prairie habitat, but other ecological and behavioral factors may also influence diurnal range size...