M. H. Smith

A safe and effective muscle biopsy procedure that can be used to sample genetic variation in live white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is described. The validity of this procedure for estimating genetic variability was confirmed by sampling blood and muscle from 78 road-killed and 57 captured deer at Chickamauga Battlefield National Military Park, Georgia, between June 1991 and June 1992. Six polymorphic loci were detected in muscle tissue and 2 polymorphic loci were found in blood using starch-gel electrophoresis. We compared levels of genetic variation in 3 sampling groups: road-...

Differential development of reproductive characteristics and sex organs among age classes of male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) during the breeding season was studied in west-central South Carolina. Blood samples and reproductive organs were obtained from 292 hunter-harvested deer from 26 October through 21 December 1985. Peak serum testosterone concentrations of ≥3.5-yearold deer occurred during the first week of the study, whereas peak concentrations in younger deer occurred approximately 4 weeks later. Testosterone concentrations were higher (P < 0.03) in older age...

Percent body fat was estimated from the Kidney Fat Index for 1,726 male, white-tailed deer from the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina for the years 1974 through 1978. There was a significant decrease in percent body fat from September through December in all animals ≥2.5 years. Percent fat in fawns increased significantly from September through December. Fat levels in 1.5-year-old animals did not show a general trend for either an increase or decrease from September through December. However, the lowest percent fats were consistently observed in November for all but the 0.5-year-old...