Steve N. Wilson

When the 113.000 acre White Rive National Wildlife Refuge was established on September 5, 1935, very few white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were present. With protection, the deer herd increased and by 1947 deer were firmly established. By 1957, the bottomland area was overstocked and browsing and desirable forest reproduction was heavy. Overpopulation continued until public hunts began in 1961. Due to obvious overpopulation, the number of hunters were unrestricted from 1961 through 1964. Beginning in 1965, controlled hunting was initiated to achieve deer herd management on a...

During four years of deer collections from three areas in Arkansas, 550 female reproductive tracts were analyzed. Four hundred and twenty-six tracts collected during fall hunting seasons proved to be of little value. Of 124 does collected by spotlighting and from road kills in spring, 101 were pregnant. Eighty-nine of these were adult does and 12 were fawns. The mean conception date (MCD) of adult does from the northern study area was November 13-three weeks earlier than MCD in the central and southern areas. This was a highly significant difference. The ovulation rate of 108 adult...