Use of forest maps versus field surveys to measure summer habitat selection and sexual segregation in northern white-tailed deer

Abstract

We used data derived from forest maps and ground surveys to study habitat preferences and sexual segregation in two populations of northern white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) living at low density in southeastern Quebec. Based on the reproductive-strategy hypothesis invoked to explain sexual segregation, we predicted that females would select habitat with denser cover than males did throughout the growing season, but that this tendency would decline with fawn maturation. Deer of both populations and sexes avoided agricultural lands; one population preferred regenerating clearcuts and disturbed conifer stands (balsam fir and spruce), whereas the other preferred undisturbed cedar stands. Based on map analyses we did not detect sexual segregation. Field surveys revealed that deer did not select forest stands at random and that habitat preferences differed by sex. Early in the growing season, both sexes tended to use mid-successional, dense stands, whereas males progressively used younger, more open stands later in the season. Detecting habitat preferences of forest mammals may require fine-scale details that are unavailable on maps derived from aerial photographs.