P. E. Hale

Some land managers think that the effects of increasing numbers of deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on habitat have been a factor in the long-term decline of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations in the Southeast. We studied effects of deer browsing of selected quail foods in northern Florida on an area managed for quail and supporting a population of about 40 deer/km2. Periodic observations of permanently tagged plants indicated use of some taxa by deer, especially in early autumn. In sample quadrats from which deer were excluded, seed production was greater for partridge peas...

Increasing hunting pressure and habitat loss have raised concerns about the age structure and potential overharvest of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations in Georgia. Nineteen juvenile and 15 adult gobblers were radio-tracked during January 1989-June 1991 in the vicinity of Clark Hill Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Gobblers avoided the WMA in spring and summer, preferring fields and pastures on private land. They preferred the WMA in fall and winter. Upland hardwood was the most preferred habitat type. Recorded mortalities (27) resulted from spring hunting (23), mammalian...

Pocosins are peat bogs that support dense, evergreen shrub cover providing abundant, low-quality browse for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). This habitat type is subject to infrequent, intense wildfires, and in May 1986 a wildfire burned across 18,200 ha (>90%) of the Holly Shelter Game Land in eastern North Carolina. We studied the response of the deer population to the fire by comparing preand postfire data on density, harvest, physical condition, and nutrition. We also analyzed nutritional quality of browse samples from burned and unburned areas for 2 years after the fire...

We sampled forage and browse and made spotlight counts to study seasonal use of clearcuts and food plots by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the Southern Appalachians. Browse production was greater in clearcuts than in adjacent forest. Deer used clearcuts most intensively during the summer when green leaves and herbs were abundant. Use of clearcuts was very low in winter. Browsing intensity was higher in clearcuts than in the forest in summer but not in winter. However, less than 4% of all twigs were browsed even in clearcuts in summer. Food plots, especially those containing...

We examined the influence of acorn abundance on fall and winter diets and on nutritional and reproductive status of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the Southern Appalachians from 1983 to 1988. When acorns were abundant, they dominated the diet; when they were scarce, leaves of broadleaf evergreen species, primarily rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum), largely replaced acorns in the diet. When acorn production was poor, kidney fat indices in winter were significantly lower for most sex and age classes. Also, reproductive rates of yearling does were significantly lower...

Forty-five ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) were relocated in late summer 1984 from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Piedmont of Georgia to assess the feasibility of establishing huntable populations. Nineteen radio-equipped birds survived 2 to 183 days (x = 82 days). Radio-monitored grouse preferred hardwood scrub habitats, sparse hardwood sawtimber, and bottomland hardwoods-all of which had high understory stem densities. Unradioed grouse were observed periodically from release until spring of 1985, but there was no evidence of reproduction. A grouse also was seen in the study area 2...