When Time Is Right, Young Bucks
Move On Sometimes A Long Way
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) When scientists from
Penn State’s College of Agricul
tural Sciences and the Pennsylva
nia Game Commission began
tracking young, male white-tailed
deer last winter to leam how they
disperse, the researchers weren’t
sure what to expect.
For years it was believed that
deer in Pennsylvania don’t move
around much. But wildlife ex
perts knew that for genetic rea
sons deer populations should
minimize inbreeding, so it made
sense that the males would leave
the area where they were bom.
Now, almost a year into the
study, a fascinating picture of
young buck dispersal is emerg
ing.
“Movement of young bucks is
certainly not related to quality of
habitat of a deer’s home range,”
says Duane Diefenbach, adjunct
assistant professor of wildlife re
sources with the Pennsylvania
Cooperative Fish and Wildlife
Research Unit, a joint effort of
Penn State, the Game Commis
sion, the Pennsylvania Fish and
Boat Commission and the U.S.
Geologic Survey. “We see young
bucks leaving natal home ranges
with good habitat and traveling
to other areas of good habitat.
It’s almost like the doe gives
them the message that it is time
to go.”
Researcher and graduate stu
dent Eric Long has been in
trigued by the dispersal paths of
the young bucks he is tracking.
One swam the Allegheny River
and crossed several highways
during his 15-mile journey.
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“We have found that 40 per
cent of male fawns bom the year
before leave their mother the fol
lowing spring at about the time
she is ready to have a new litter
of fawns,” Long says. “Then dur
ing the rut in early fall, many of
the rest leave. We don’t know
whether the does somehow tell
them they should leave, or if the
young bucks get wanderlust from
wanting to be involved in breed
ing activity. Maybe both.”
The joint, three-year study
intended to be the most extensive
radio-telemetry study of male
deer dispersal, survival and the
effects of antler restrictions for
hunting ever attempted in the
United States started last De
cember when 141 male deer were
captured in Armstrong and
Centre counties. Those deer
caught using helicopters, drop
nets, walk-in traps and tranquil
izer dart guns were radio-col
lared and released unharmed.
Researchers have been tracking
their movements ever since.
The two sites offer dramatical
ly different landscapes, Long
points out, and that probably ac
counts for a difference in disper
sal rates of young bucks. “At the
Armstrong County site near Kit
tanning, which is mostly rolling
hills with patches of forest and
open agricultural areas often di
vided by roads, 44 percent of
bucks that were collared left their
mothers in the spring. On aver
age they went about seven miles.
“At the Centre County site,
which is less fragmented and fea
tures continuous forested ridges,
24 percent of young bucks dis-
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persed in the spring,” says Long.
“They didn’t move as far on av
erage about five miles. The
maximum dispersal distance we
have seen in Centre County was
13 and a half miles.”
Mortality of animals has been
about what researchers expected.
At the Armstrong County site,
four were killed by vehicles on
roads, two were killed by poach
ers prior to hunting seasons and
two were harvested during the
first week of archery season. One
of those was a 13-point buck
one of the few older bucks in
cluded in the study.
At the Centre County site, just
one deer in the study has been
killed on highways, and so far,
archers have killed no deer in the
study area. According to Long,
the Centre County site has a
higher human population, but far
fewer miles of road than the
Armstrong County site.
“There has been very little
mortality and no predation of
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study animals,” Diefenbach says.
“Hunting is clearly the big factor
in deer management. But we
knew that.”
Early information yielded by
the research dispels some myths
about Pennsylvania deer. Long
notes. “From a management per
spective, we know that we can’t
manage deer in a small area,” he
says. “There is a lot of inter
change between animals and
areas. Landowners should realize
that there is a good chance that
the bucks they see on their prop
erty probably weren’t born there.
There is a lot more interchange
than people were expecting.”
This information likely will be
of great interest to hunters, Long
speculates. “There have been
suggestions that landowners
could introduce big-racked bucks
to pass on their genes to offspring
males that will have bigger
racks,” he says. “But we are see
ing now that the young male deer
probably won’t stay in the area.
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They more likely are producing
bucks for landowners in the next
valley, or even the next county.”
Moreover, Gary Alt, deer man
agement section supervisor for
the Game Commission, points
out that Pennsylvania deer don’t
need better genes, they just need
to live a year longer. “We know
from our research that two-and
a-half-year-old Pennsylvania
bucks sport a seven- or eight
point rack with an outside spread
of 15 inches,” he says.
The Pennsylvania Game Com
mission’s Web site, http://
www.pgc.state.pa.us, is keeping a
running journal of the study. For
more information, click on ‘Wild
life,” then “Deer in Pennsylva
nia” and then “Antlered Deer
Study.”
addition, all vents to furnaces,
water heaters, boilers and other
fuel-burning heating appliances
should be checked to make sure
they are not loose or disconnect
ed.
Also, have your appliances in
spected for gas leaks and ade
quate ventilation. A supply of
fresh air is important to help
carry pollutants up the chimney,
stovepipe or flue, and is necessary
for the complete combustion of
any fuel. Never block ventilation
air openings. Also, make sure the
appliance is operating on the fuel
that it is designed to use. To con
vert an appliance to burn pro
pane, it must be modified by a
professional.