Robert L. Cook

Incisors and jawbones were collected from known-age Texas white-tailed deer (Odocoileus \\'i,.~inianus texanus) which had been captured, ear-tagged, and released as fawns and harvested during public hunts in subsequent years. Incisors from 25 knownage whitetails were aged by Matson's Commercial Microtechnique Laboratory using the cementum analysis technique. The jawbones from these same 25 deer were aged using the tooth replacement and wear technique by wildlife biologists / wildlife technicians of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Matson correctly aged 4 (16.0o/r) of the 25...

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).

Since 1954, 3,438 white-tailed deer have been harvested from 5,500 acres on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area. Initial attempts to reduce the deer herd by harvest were unsuccessful due to ingress of deer from adjoining ranches. Range iecovery and habitat improvement were impossible to achieve because of the constant grazing pressure exerted by the extensive deer population. The over-all quality of harvested deer was poor. Deer-proof fences were erected around the wildlife area in 1968 and the inflow of deer from surrounding rances was stopped. Since 1968, the deer herd has been reduced...

Project personnel contacted ranchers, farmers, highway maintenance crews, farm and ranch laborers, Game Management Officers, and other interested persons to receive prompt reports of nests of Rio Grande turkey (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) found incidentally during the 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1971 nesting seasons. One hundred and twenty-one turkey nests were found during the four year period in the Edwards Plateau of Texas. Upon locations, nests were observed by project personnel and data recorded on nesting forms. Laying began in late February and continued through late August. Laying...