Habitat Use and Seasonal Range Size of White-Tailed Deer in Northcentral Minnesota

Abstract

Seventeen radio-collared female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were monitored during 1968-74 in northcentral Minnesota to determine their use of plant communities. During January-October, the Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea)-Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides)-Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) Community was used by deer more than expected. It probably provided the best winter cover and was a floristically rich community that provided high quality food. Home-range size was largest in April-May (f ? SE = 75 ? 42 ha) and smallest in January (30 ? 14 ha). J. WILDL. MANAGE. 51(3):644-648 Numbers of white-tailed deer in Minnesota increased rapidly in the 1930's and 1940's after logging and fires from 1900 to the early 1930's created large areas of early successional stages of forest vegetation (Erickson et al. 1961). Changes in forest structure and composition now occur almost entirely by logging or direct wildlife habitat improvement. Currently, the supply of wood in Minnesota is about twice the demand (Spencer and Ostrom 1979, Jakes and Raile 1980). In some areas forest succession is advancing faster than it is being set back and has been responsible, in part, for a major decline in deer numbers (Mech and Karns 1977). To optimize forest management practices for enhancement of deer populations in Minnesota, detailed habitat and movement studies are required. Such studies have been conducted in northeast Minnesota (Irwin 1974; Wetzel et al. 1975; Nelson 1979; Nelson and Mech 1981, 1984), where forests have a strong boreal component (Ohmann and Ream 1971). Fewer studies are available from the more widespread aspen-balsam fir dominated forests where the majority of deer are impacted by forest manipulations. This paper reports on seasonal habitat use and range size of white-tailed deer in a portion of northcentral Minnesota. Included are data from Kohn and Mooty (1971), Waddell (1973), and Pierce (1975), as well as additional unpublished data. The objective of the study was to identify the major forest types most utilized by deer so that high quality deer habitat could be created and maintained. We thank E. W. Wroe, J. G. Wetzel, the late J. B. Moyle, and the staff and boys of the Thistledew Youth Corrections Camp for their assistance. D. M. Heisey and C. A. Macken assisted with the statistical analysis, and R. L. Glazer with the soils analysis. R. E. Lake provided valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.