Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

A FORTRAN IV model of the inter- and intra-seasonal energy flow through deer populations was developed for evaluating the potential biological productivity ofland for deer. The productivity per unit cost is suggested as a means for evaluating land being considered for acquisition for deer management areas. The model uses the "Standard Deer Unit," an integration of climatic, behavior, and other factors. To characterize the energy dynamics of deer maintenance and production subjective probability estimations are made by the user of successional changes in cover and forage production. Indices of the potential sightable and harvestable deer production are calculated in standard deer units at 5-year intervals over a SO-year planning horizon.

In 1971 a joint Tennessee Valley Authority-Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency effort began to increase wood duck (Aix sponsa) productivity, test nest structure acceptability, and document competition-predator problems on a 12.5-mile segment of the upper Holston River in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Over 90 standard wooden, rocket, and horizontal wood duck nest boxes were installed. Duck use of nest boxes increased from 6 percent in 1971 to 44 percent by 1975. Woodie preferences progressed during this time as follows: wooden boxes, 12 percent to 55 percent use; rocket boxes, 3 percent to 57 percent use; and horizontal structures, 0 to 23 percent. Starlings (Stumus e·ulgaris) were chief competitors. using 40 percent available rocket boxes. 19 percent wooden boxes, and 6 percent horizontal structures in 1975.

Rooted vegetation in lakes of the Atchafalaya River Basin was adversely affected by increasing water turbidities from rising flood waters. Duck food plants decreased 80 percent from October 1972 to October 1973 as a result of severe flooding. Different sections of the basin were affected more than others by high water levels. Pest plants were a problem throughout most of the basin but presented no great problem in the study areas. Lakes in the lower section ofthe swamp region and the marsh region had the highest occurrence of vegetation during the study period. The middle and lower sections of the swamp region and the marsh region had higher duck usage than the upper section. Water turbidities were lowest in the upper section of the swamp region and water depths greatest.

A three-year study was initiated in 1972 to evaluate habitat manipulation practices of ducks in a beaver pond complex located at Hardaway, Macon County, Alabama. Three methods for controlling water level were not eflective. Seed yields were determined for four planted and one naturally occurring plant species. Japanese millet (Echinochloa crusgalli var. frumentacea) averaged 2342 kglha: jungle rice (Echinochloa colunum), 1847 kglha; chiwapa millet (Echinochloa frumentacea), 2064 kg/ha; sunflower (Heliantlllls sp.J, 1625 kg/ha; and red-rooted sedge (Cypenls erythrorhizos), & 34 kglha. During the hunting seasons of 1972-1975, 134 dabbling ducks were collected for food habit analysis. The five most important food items ranked by importance value for the combined period were: Quercus nigra, Ludwigia leptocarpa, Sparganium chlorocarpum, Glycine max, and Polygonum hydrol'iperiodes. The planting of several millet species for ducks was of little value on this study area.

The characteristics, management and costs of 213 diked impoundments in an important waterfowl wintering area in coastal South Carolina were studied in 1972-73 by intensive field surveys and interviews with owners, managers, construction companies, and tax collectors. Managed impoundments composed 22,536 acres of the total 98,451 acres of marshland and were claimed by 52 individuals or private groups and two state agencies. The objectives in management varied, but attracting waterfowl or snipe was an objective for 77 percent of the impoundments composing 87 percent (19,617 acres) of the total acreage of managed wetlands. Waterfowl food production was achieved primarily by manipulating natural vegetation through control of water Ievels and salinities, often in coordination with cattle grazing. Specific techniques of vegetation control are described, and dimensions and descriptions of dikes and water control structures are given.

Species diversity and density for game and non-game birds were studied during winter and summer, 1975 on three streams in the Virginia Piedmont which were channelized 2,5, and 9 years prior to Held work. Three study sites, each 1 hectare in size, were located along streams in secondary succession bottom land hardwood communities. Indices were calculated for bird species diversity (BSD) and foliage height diversity (FHD) using the Shannon-Weaver information theory formula. To further assess any differences in either diversity or density among the three sites the following variables were also examined: the number of breeding birds per hectare, the mean number of birds observed per hour, and the average number of bird species seen per day. Results indicated that BSD and FHD increased from the 2-year-old to 9-year-old channelized streams. A significant increase was observed in avian diversity and density through progressive successional stages of the channelized streams.

From January 1973 to September 1974, a study was conducted at Rockefeller Rehlge, Grand Chenier, Louisiana to determine the effects of irrigating Scirpus olneyi with various concentrations of salt water during drought periods. Scirpus olneyi was established in 12 one-tenth-acre impoundments and subjected to 6 water level and salinity treatments. Drying ponds for 1 and 3 months before the treatments were initiated had no measurable effects on culm density. The 20 ppl salinity treatments reduced culm density, but the 10 ppt salinity treatments and wet and dry controls had little or no effect on plant growth, The 6 experimental treatments had no effect on rhizome growth, Rhizome volume increased throughout the study.

Response in hunter opportunity, use, and success to user-fee wildlife management systems are examined on International Paper Company lands in Arkansas and Texas during 1970-74. During 1972-74, 28,500 published hunting guides to open lands were distributed. One permit per 26.5 acres of management area was sold during 1974. Membership in Texas club leases increased from one member/124 acres to one member/57 acres during 1970-74. Lease members averaged 7.7 days squirrel hunting and 3.0 days deer Use of permits varied between management areas. Success ratios were 0.8 squirrels/day and 0.08 deer/day on leases and 3.0 squirrels/day and 0.04 deer/day on management areas. Hunter attitudes and management implications are discussed.

A tank study was conducted to determine the effects various concentrations of crude oil on brackish marsh plants. Scirpus olneyi and Spartina patens were grown in tanks and subjected to a light and a heavy crude oil at four concentrations and four water levels over an H.5-month period. Growth and survival ofplants were detennined monthly. A fluctuating water level (+5 to -5cm) with so parts per thousand (ppt) of heavy crude oil was the treatment most detrimental to S. olneyi. Crude oil enhanced growth and survival of S. olneyi at a water level of +5cm above the soil surface. Growth increased as oil concentrations increased and was greater for heavy oil than for light oil of equal concentrations. For S. patens treated with crude oils, a fluctuating water level (+5 to -5cm) and a +5cm water level were the most detrimental. High oil concentrations were detrimental to S. patens at water levels of -5cm and 0em. Damage to S. patens was more severe for heavy oil than for light oil.

A telemetric study of the effects of recreational activities on the eastern wild turkey was conducted during the summer of 1972 and the spring and summer of 1973 and 1974. One hundred and three turkeys were captured and patagium tagged. Fifty-five were released with 164 MHz radio transmitters attached. Turkeys did not frequent a heavily used off·road vehicle area. Foot trail traffic had an adverse effect on the use ofan area by turkeys. Turkeys were not known to inhabit any area closer than 1.0km to campgrounds in the summer. Some loss of turkeys to poaching was noted. Management implications are discussed.

Information on seasonal food habits of the European wild hog (Sus serofa) was obtained by analyses of stomach contents of 128 animals collected in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from 1971 to 1973. Hogs ate primarily plant material in all seasons. Grasses (Gramineae) were the most important food item in the spring and were also important to hogs in the summer, as were the fruits Gaylussacia spp., and Malus spp. Roots were the major food item in the fan and winter months, although the mast of Quercus spp. and Carya spp. was important when available. Animal matter consumed consisted primarily of invertebrates, salamanders and small mammals. Invertebrates were the most frequently occurring animal food. Total volume of animal matter was small. However, the apparent more than random searching for animal matter indicates the possible importance of these higher protein food sources in the diet of hogs.

Muskrats, Ondatra zibethicus, (360) were collected from river and creek study areas in East Tennessee from July, 1972 to June, 1973. Data were recorded on reproductive parameters. Maximum values for testis length and width occurred in August, whereas maxima for testis volume and weight were in May and August, respectively. Evidence indicated that sperm were present in the adult males year-round. Maturation of follicles began in January in adult females; mature follicles were present in late February and March, and the first corpora lutea of pregnancy were found in April. Maximum values for mean ovarian weights for pregnant and non-pregnant river adults were achieved in July. Ovarian lengths were maximum in April (non-pregnant) and August (pregnant). Average litter size was 5.38 and the average number oflitters per year per female was 2.3. Fetal implantations were found until August, and follicular activity ceased by October.

The mixed hardwoods, white oaklred oak/hickory, and chestnut oak forest types were most important for gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) on an 8100 ha study area in West Virginia. The three most abundant tree species, chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), white oak (Q. alba), and northern red oak (Q. rum-a), in these forest types provided 75 percent of the nest dens and 54 percent of the leaf nests. Among 14 tree species used for nest-den trees. American chestnut(Castanea dentata) snags and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) ,,"'Cre preferred. Hickories(Carya spp.), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and maples (Acer spp.) were preferred for Ieaf nests. Squirrels preferred trees 40+ em dbh tor nest dens. Intensive timber management would remove the mature and residual trees that provided most of the dens. Management for squirrels requires that a diversity of selected tree species be retained for dens and mast.

During 5 consecutive hunting seasons (1969-1974), 57 hunters made 136 woodcock hunts at 27 sites in northeast Georgia. In 728 man-hours of hunting, 1,132 woodcock flushes occurred. Hunters fired 1,171 shots and bagged 308 woodcock. Forty-three birds were shot down hut lost and 20 were feathered but kept flying. Overall, 1.56 woodcock were flushed per man-hour of hunting, and hunters bagged approximately one bird ofevery four flushed. Crippling loss (in relation to total kill) was computed to be 17 percent. Although hunting opportunity and hunter success compared closely with results of previous hunter surveys undertaken in northern areas, crippling loss was much higher than previously indicated. Using flushing rates, river or creek floodplains were preferred diurnal sites as opposed to beaver pond, upland, and mixed habitat locales. Swamp privet appeared to be favorite cover.

A telephone survey of mourning dove hunting in the Eastern Management Unit covering eight seasons (1966-1973) was carried Ollt for the Southeastern Cooperative Dove Study. The sampling frame, the survey procedures, and the precision of the results are described, and certain comparisons are made with mail surveys. Of the 210,000 randomly selected households, approximately 85 percent were contacted and information on about 12,800 dove hunters was obtained. The number of dove hunters in Management Unit households having listed telephones, the Dumber of their trips and their harvest of doves were estimated with seasonal percentage standard errors ranging between 4.0 and 8.8. For the same number of persons contacted, a telephone survey of dove hunting seems to yield less precise estimates than does a mail survey based on license files, at least partly because only a small fraction of those households reached by telephone. include dove hunters.

The acceptance and antifertility action of microencapsulated diethylstilbestrol (DES) administered in feed was investigated with penned female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus viirginianus). A switchback designed oral acceptance test at 0, 250, 500, 750, and 1,000 mg was conducted just before the breeding season. The 1,000 mg level was as well accepted as the other three concentrations, but none were as well accepted as the control. Six does were presented 1,000 mg of DES, homogenized in 1.362 kg of feed, every 17 days throughout the breeding season. Five of the six does demonstrated aversion to the compound. Consumption of 131mg or less did not prevent normal pregnancy. The sixth doe, which consumed 182 and 428mg at the first two feedings, bred again after each feeding indicating that these levels might have interrupted pregnancy. Possible reasons for the poor acceptance of DES during the breeding season are discussed.

Nasal bots (Cephenemyw sp.) were found in 107 (4.4 percent) of 2,423 white-tailed deer (Odocoueus virginianus) examined from the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Infected deer were not found in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The parasite was most prevalent in the winter and summer. There were no significant differences in infestations between sexes or age groupings. The average infestation was 9 larvae per infested deer and only 5 deer harbored more than 30 larvae. Cephenemyia sp. did not appear to be a significant disease factor for white-tailed deer of the southeastern United States.

A postal survey of 1,323 game management area permit holders (5%) was made in early 1972 to detennine the utilization of game management areas for deer hunting. Responses (777) were inadequate for projecting utilization of many of the 35 state game management areas for deer hunting. Thus responses from the postal survey and from a subsequent personal contact survey, were grouped into major hunt units. Sixteen percent ofthe 777 postal survey respondents were selected for personal contact. This survey was more comprehensive than the postal survey, and provided an estimate of the number of management area deer hunters utilizing non-management areas. Estimates from the personal interview survey were uniformly higher and more variable than those projected from the responses of the same hunters in the postal survey.

The occurrence and extent of European wild hog (Sus scrofa) rooting at different elevations and vegetation types in the mountains of East Tennessee were studied along trails and roads in three watersheds in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and in three watersheds in the Tellico Wildlife Management Area, Cherokee National Forest, from April 1971 through March 1972. Rooting was greatest at higher elevations in the wanner months and at lower elevations in the cooler months. The location of rooting in different \\/egetation types appeared to be related to elevational movement in response to changes in ambient temperature, to food availability, and to farroWing activity. Rooting was common in hemlock and closed-oak types during the spring, in the northern hardwood type during the warmer spring and Slimmer, and in the closed-oak type and fields during the fall and winter.

Blood samples were obtained from 70 European wild hogs (Susscrofa), of which 33 were live-trapped in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and 37 were reared in captivity on farms geographically proximal to the mountains. Sera were analyzed for chloride, potassium, sodium, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, total serum protein, albumin, alpha, beta and gamma globulins. The albumin/globulin ratio was calculated. Data were analyzed for the effects of sex, age, and location by least squares analysis of variance. With the exception of semm sodium, significant sex differences were not found. With the exception of glucose, semm bio-roaming hogs were slightly higher than females. Among adult and subadult, free-roaming hogs, only the total senlm protein was significantly higher in the adults. Serum values ofmale and female pen-reared hogs were similar though the females had somewhat higher levels of total serum protein and albumin.

An air-boat was used successfully to collect raccoons in a tidal marsh. Three hundred and four raccoons were seen and collected for 68 man hours expended with the air-boat as compared to 62 raccoons seen and collected for 56 man hours expended with the John·boat. During one two-hour collection, 39 raccoons (approximately one every three minutes) were collected with the air-boat. The number of raccoons seen and collected on each tide was closely correlated to tide height.

An inventory of understory herbage and browse indicated that the forage potential of southwest Louisiana forests is riot being fully utilized. The longleaf-slash pine and loblolly-shortleaf pine ecosystems produce the greatest amount of forage, but bottomland hardwoods have the best browse composition.

The contents of 4,157 quail crops from the Sandhills Wildlife Management Area were examined. The crops were collected from hunter harvested quail during the open hunting season (mid-November through late February) for seven years, 1961 through 1967. Items of primary importance were the seeds of longleaf pine, red bay, shrub lespedeza, rye and beggarweed. A temporal examination of the data indicates that red bay was important as a source offood in late winter and during periods ofpine mast scarcity.

The impact of continuously removing gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) from upland Virginia poultry farms was studied over a 25-month period. Primary study areas were two sets offarm woodlots. Foxes were left undisturbed on one fann, and were intensively controlled for a 14-month period on the other. Demographic analysis ofrodent populations and enumeration of sympatric carnivores were penormed on both farms before, during, and after the period offox control. During fox control, weasels(Mustelafrenata) irrupted to significant (P <0.05) levels; numbers of skunks, opossums, and raccoons remained unchanged. Weasels disappeared upon the reestablishment of foxes during postcontrol. Rodent trapping yielded 631 small mammals, including 331 woodmice (Perornyscus leucopus), in 9,042 trapnights.

A computer-based educationallloit for university and inservice education is described. Students make selections from pre-punched decision cards and present these for computer analyses. They receive a printed output enabling them to improve their "play" orthe game. The units require management of deer in a southeastern U. S. county producing soybeans. The objective is to stabilize the deer population and minimize crop losses. Hunt I is a unit employed independently of past uses. After five uses ofl, students are encouraged to use Hunt II which requires correcting past mistakes as well as playing against natural variation in variables. The program is in use in a course in integrated plant pest management and wildlife techniques.