As with most species habitat is a critical issue for Whitetail Deer. Habitat is an extremely important key to the survival of wildlife species.  The five main factors of habitat for a species are food, water, cover, space, and arrangement.  Certain aspects of habitat, especially food supplies are the predominant constraint on the numbers of a specie.  Responses of a specie to nutritional conditions have been documented or identified speculatively in many studies.  In general, good nutrition is reflected in animals by (1) good physical condition and above-average body weights; (2) high reproductive rates; (3) high survival rates, especially for newborn; and (4) increasing populations.  Poor nutrition would cause the opposite of these conditions.  Cover, space, and arrangement are also critical to physical and behavioral well-being for most species of wildlife, more so in some than others.

Food Preference and Utilization

Basic to any appraisal of whitetail habitat is a knowledge of what foods the deer will consume, usually on a seasonal basis. After this has been determined, the biologist or manager can use the abundance or scarcity of these food plants as indices of habitat condition, and attempt to rehabilitate the habitat by increasing the more important plants. The degree to which certain plants are used by whitetails depends on the number of deer per unit of area, condition of the habitat, season, growth stage of available plants, age of stand and variety of plants within the area.

For example, when whitetails are forced to concentrate, as in winter yards, the most desired foods quickly become depleted from overuse, often resulting in starvation. However, this loss of life by overcrowding and starvation is not confined just to winter yards. In the Everglades of Florida,, extended high water levels force deer onto tree islands where they quickly deplete the life sustaining plants. In some habitats in the South, whitetails feed on twig growth primarily during the early spring period. The twig ends are most palatable and nutritionally beneficial at this time.

A standard technique in wildlife management is to determine the preferred browse plants within an area. As a matter of practicality, these plants then are singled out for intensive study. This approach has been particularly useful for categorizing winter deer yards, although plant lists also have been developed for use in studying southern deer habitats. These plant lists can be very misleading, however, if based only on field observation of utilization, since fruits, herbs, mushrooms and woody leaves can be, consumed entirely, leaving no evidence of use. 

The most common techniques used in studying the food preferences of whitetailed deer include rumen analysis, fecal analysis, lead deer studies and field observations of plants utilized. Each has advantages and disadvantages. 

Rumen Analysis

Use of rumen contents to investigate the foods consumed by whitetailed deer was first reported in the Southeast by Ruff (1938). To identify and measure the foods taken, Ruff collected stomachs from whitetails on the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina, and calculated the frequency of occurrence and percentage composition by volume of forages found in the stomachs. Harlow and Hooper (1972) obtained a good estimate both of frequency and composition of foods eaten by deer by sifting a composite sample collected from deer stomachs. A 9.51 millimeter (0.37 inch) sieve separated the largest food items immediately. A 5.66 millimeter (0.22 inch) sieve enabled recovery of any given food item that had reached its maximum frequency of occurrence.

Rumen analysis has several advantages. It will reveal deer consumption of forbs and the deciduous leaves of woody plants. Because whitetails consume such items entirely, utilization cannot always be detected by field inspection. Food preferences of deer can be investigated over an entire region or within a specific location in a relatively short time. For example, Puglisi et al. (1978) found that a five man crew could process 80 to 100 one quart rumen samples in eight hours. An obvious disadvantage is that animals have to be sacrificed in order for researchers to obtain an adequate sample. Also, differences in the digestibility of plants make quantification of food items difficult and sometimes unreliable (Norris 1943).

Gray et al. (1980) described and compared three methods commonly used to analyze rumen contents the point frame technique, the gross volumetric technique and the microhistologic technique.

The point frame method of analysis was much faster than gross volumetric and microhistological methods but sampled only 80 percent of the plant species or species groups identified by gross volumetric analysis. There was relatively close agreement between gross and microhistological techniques with the exception that fruits and fungi were estimated incorrectly or undetected microscopically, but were readily identified in gross analysis. Grasses and other herbaceous material, which were not detected or not identifiable with species by gross analysis, were identified more readily microscopically. Analyses of deer rumen contents were found to be more complete if both gross and microhistological techniques were utilized.

Fecal Analysis

In the United States, Dusi (1949) was the first to study the food habits of herbivorous mammals by histological analysis of feces. Currently, however, the most widely used techniques for preparing reference slides and fecal samples are those of Baumgartner and Martin (1939). Sparks and Malechek (1968) used the Baumgartner/Martin method for preparing samples, and then developed the method commonly used today for estimating weight percentage of a plant in the diet from plant fragment density in feces.

When using the fecal analysis technique, Ward (1970) emphasized that only fresh droppings should be used, and that samples should be placed in plastic bags to prevent drying and then stored by refrigeration, or in any preservative. Also, a good plant reference collection is essential.

The principal advantages of fecal analysis over rumen analysis are that (1) animals do not have to be sacrificed, (2) adequate samples are relatively easy to obtain, and (3) a more extensive listing of plants can be obtained in the same amount of time it takes to analyze rumen samples (Anthony and Smith 1974, Mengak 1982). Disadvantages include the amount of time involved in the preparation of reference material, cost of equipment and difficulty of interpreting data quantitatively. This method has not been widely used on whitetailed deer probably because it requires a more sophisticated analysis than for rumen contents. However, it was used to determine the food habits of Key deer in Florida (Dickson 1955) and on whitetails in Mississippi (Mitchell 1980) and in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina (Mengak 1982).

Lead Deer Studies

Wallmo and Neff (1970) credited McMahan (1964) as first in the United States to observe specially trained wild ruminants to determine the kinds and amounts of forage taken on rangelands. Watts (1964) used specially raised whitetails to determine forage consumption in relation to seasonal availability of plant foods in hardwood forests in Pennsylvania. Healy (1967) also used tame whitetails to continue this work in other areas of Pennsylvania. Whelan et al. (1971) used three tame deer to determine food selectivity during early spring in western Virginia. They allowed the deer to feed for approximately one hour per day for the first week in order to familiarize them with the area. Then, during a 10 - day data - gathering period, observers noted the number of times the deer selected a particular plant species and its parts.

Lead deer are domestically reared semi tame animals. While being observed, the deer is kept under control by the scientist using a harness and a leash of about 6 meters (20 feet) in length (Healy 1967). Information is collected on the Plant species and plant parts taken and the time it takes the deer to chew and swallow the item.

Lead deer studies enable researchers to collect data on feeding habits at close range during any time of the year. Also, rough quantification of foods taken can be made, since differential digestibility of foods will not be a factor not as in rumen analysis. Disadvantages include the time and expense involved in raising deer and trying to keep them tame. Furthermore, controlling deer in the field is difficult. Finally, the sample size with this method is comparatively small, and the researcher cannot be entirely certain that the diet of the tamed deer would be that of a free-roaming whitetail under similar time and space conditions and minus an observer.

Field Observations of Plants

Possibly, the first studies of deer feeding habits were accomplished through observation of browsed plants. It probably is safe to say that deer utilize most the plants they like best, and in field observations, wildlife researchers are inclined to consider those plants utilized most as the ones most preferred. However, such observations may be misleading because of the effect of seasonal influence on plant abundance and palatability, and on the stage of succession of the habitat regarding availability of certain plants (Harlow 1979). For example, some of the less preferred plants may receive heavy utilization on overstocked range (Latham 1950, Goodrum and Reid 1962, Gill 1957b, Jenkins and Bartlett 1959). In other cases, preferred plants may have grown out of reach of deer or have been eliminated (Swift 1946).

Several investigators have used subjective methods to classify the extent of browse utilization by deer. Cole (1959) used three categories: (1) no browsing to light browsing (unaltered to slightly altered plants); (2) moderate (second-year growth somewhat lengthened and only moderately altered); and (3) severe (second-year growth relatively short and drastically altered from normal growth). Aldous (1944) used -H- to designate heavy browsing (50-100 percent of a plant showing evidence of utilization), -M- for moderate (10-50 percent of plant utilized) and "L" for light (trace-10 percent of a plant utilized).

Subjective measurement data of whitetail utilization and food preference can be gathered rather quickly, so large areas often can be sampled in a relatively short time. One subjective habitat evaluation technique based on available forage, described by Williamson et al. (1978), provided a useful index to forage abundance and required about 20 percent of the time required for analogous vegetative sampling techniques. A big drawback is the potential degree of human error. Even experienced field workers find their estimates often vary widely.

Twig count and twig length are two direct methods of measuring whitetail utilization and preference in the field. In the twig-count method, browsed and unbrowsed twigs on each sampled plant are counted and their ratio expressed as a percentage (Bramble and Goddard 1953, Stiteler and Shaw 1966, Moore and Johnson 1967). The investigators used variable-sized plots (1-2 milacres to 0.0025 acre), some of which were shaped as transects, often permanently installed and systematically established to represent the important habitats. The twig-length method determines the average normal length of twigs and the average length after browsing. Deer use is expressed as a percentage of normal twig length. These lengths may be measured or estimated. Hormay (1943) used the twig-length method to estimate the amount of current twig growth grazed on bitterbrush. He established plots 50.8 centimeters (20 inches) wide and 40 or 60 meters (131-197 feet) long, which included 20 to 25 average-sized plants per plot. Hubbard and Dunaway (1958) found that a random sample of 19 to 39 leaders from each of five bitterbrush plants were required for estimating the true mean length within 10 percent of the actual value. Cole (1959) expressed plant leader use estimates as an average based on the percentage of total available leaders showing use. He recommended sampling about 25 browse plants within each sampling unit.

Exclosures have been used in many areas to study the effects of browsing on plants and to determine plant preference by whitetailed deer. In Pennsylvania, Grisez (1959) used a deer exclosure to demonstrate the effect of deer browsing on planted red pines and native woody plants. Shafer used deer exclosures to demonstrate how deer browsing affects natural tree seedling and sprout reproduction in northeastern Pennsylvania. In the Southern Appalachian Mountains, Harlow and Downing (1970) used exclosures to determine the effect of deer browsing on the height growth of important timber species.

For management purposes, it is important to know the extent to which preferred plants can sustain browsing. For example, Brown (1954) cited as an example the permissible use of antelope bitterbrush in California, which had been worked out to 60 percent of current twig growth. The remaining 40 percent must be left on the plant to maintain its vigor and ensure seed production. Krefting et al. (1966) found that mountain maple survived even though 100 percent of each year's current annual growth was clipped for nine consecutive years. Harlow and Halls (1972) found that dogwood seedlings in Texas were affected drastically when clipping intensities during summer reached 90 to 100 percent of annual growth. The investigators noticed that mortality of yellow poplar in North Carolina may be 40 percent or more if terminal twigs are removed. 

Senses and Whitetail Feeding Habits

Whitetails are sensitive to sound and smell. Their large ears are constantly at the alert, and they depend on their acute sense of hearing to monitor the whereabouts and behavior of other animals, including predators. Their sense of smell also helps deer to identify individuals. Individual recognition occurs in large part through scents produced as tarsal pheromones. Smell attracts whitetails to food. If food smells good, the deer taste it; if it tastes good, they eat it. The senses of smell and taste enable deer to detect differences in palatability of forage. Smell also attracts whitetail bucks to does in heat.

Being a selective feeder that chooses plants and plant parts with considerable discrimination, the whitetail consumes those items that are most likely to meet its nutritional needs. Although purported to be a browser, whitetails consume a variety of foods, including grasses, sedges, fruits, nuts, forbs and mushrooms, as well as portions of shrubs and trees. There is no physiological reason why they cannot be considered true grazers (Nagy et al. 1967), probably turning to browse when herbaceous forage is unavailable.

Palatability

Characteristics that stimulate the selection of certain plants are referred to as "palatability factors" (Heady 1964). They may be chemical or physical, but chemical composition seems to be of major importance, even though the effective constituents are not well defined. Chemoreceptors in the nose and tongue respond to compounds that encourage or discourage consumption of potential foods.

The sense of taste in deer may be different from that in humans, who respond to substances that are sweet or sour, salty or bitter. However, blacktailed deer showed a pronounced preference for water solutions of sucrose and a moderate preference for acetic acid, while sodium chloride or quinine solutions were not preferred over plain water (Crawford and Church 1971). Whether these preferences can be related to natural foods has not been established. An association between essential oil composition and palatability of certain plants has been reported (Oh et al. 1968), and chlorogenic-acid concentrations have been associated with the susceptibility of Douglas-fir clones to browsing by blacktailed deer (Radwan 1972). No obvious preference was found among whitetailed deer for protein-energy supplement blocks treated with extracts of white Cedar fronds, cloves, wintergreen or a commercial "attractant," in comparison with that of untreated blocks (Ullrey et al. 1975b). 

The sense of smell has not been studied separately from the sense of taste in deer. However sheep deprived of the smell sense did not at flowering heads of grasses while normal Sheep did (Arnold 1966b). When the sense of touch also was impaired, the consumption of lowering heads was reduced less than by impairment of smell alone. Impairment of taste alone or touch alone resulted in increased intake of some plants and reduced intake of others.

The importance of sight in deer has not been studied objectively, although fawns tend to mimic the food choices of their mothers -- a behavior that depends on sight. Obscured vision in sheep resulted in greater consumption of tall grass and less clover, but sight was most important for space orientation (Arnold 1966).

It is unlikely that deer possess nutritional wisdom, but their survival under a variety of unfavorable circumstances suggests that their food choices generally are beneficial, regardless of the basis for these choices. In any case, survival is not exclusively dependent on the successful acquisition of nutrients, but on avoidance of toxins as well. Blacktailed deer strongly reject poisonous tansy ragwort and have a high tolerance for its toxin (Dean and Winward 1974).

Food availability influences relative preference. During periods of scarcity, any kind of available food, palatable or not, may be consumed out of necessity. This situation prevails regularly in northern climates where winter foods are restricted largely to woody browse.

Previous experience also seems to influence food selection. Young deer raised in captivity on formulated diets frequently prefer food items different from those consumed readily by wild deer. Preferences may be transmitted from one generation to the next through imitations of a doe's food selection by her fawns.

Appetite

Assuming acceptable foods are available, the amount of food consumed per unit of time is a function of appetite. Food intake is physiologically regulated over both the long term and short term, otherwise starvation or obesity would be more common. Hunger and satiety centers have been identified in the hypothalamus, and lesions of these centers may induce under eating or overeating. In monogastrics, blood glucose levels stimulate these centers. In ruminants, very little blood glucose is derived directly from the diet, and volatile fatty acids from microbial fermentation in the rumen-reticulum are major energy sources. Intraruminal infusions of acetate, propionate or butyrate (or mixtures of these acids) depress food intake (Baile and Mayer). However, this effect may not be due to direct action on the hypothalamic appetite-control centers, since intravenous infusion produces less depression in food intake. Perhaps other appetite-control centers exist, or other metabolites are more important in regulating hypothalamic function.

Physical limitations of the digestive tract very likely limit the intake of coarse foods. Foods difficult to digest are retained longer in the rumen-reticulum than are easily digested foods, restricting the amount of food consumed per unit of time. Montgomery and Baumgardt have shown that in the lower ranges of dietary nutritive value, physical factors such as bulkiness (large volume per unit of mass) may be most important in limiting dry-matter intake, and digestible energy intakes may never reach need. In the upper range, chemostatic or thermostatic mechanisms such as rumen or blood volatile fatty-acid levels or the body-heat load may regulate intake such that energy consumption corresponds to need, while dry-matter intake declines with increasing nutritive value.

Whitetailed deer fawns consume dry matter in conformity with the Figure 38 model, at least in winter (Ammann et al. 1973). When digestible energy density of an artificial diet was increased from 1.9 to 3.5 kilocalories per gram of dry diet, dry-matter intake in grams per kilogram of body weight O.75 increased to a dietary-digestible energy density of 2.2 kilocalories per gram, then declined. Dry-matter consumption at a digestible energy density of 2.2 kilocalories per gram was sufficient to meet energy needs for maintenance of body weights in winter in a northern United States environment (Croyle 1969). This digestible-energy density is equivalent to a dry-matter digestibility of about 50 percent. When whitetails are fed diets of less than 50-percent digestibility, physical limitations of the digestive tract will limit dry-matter intake to less than maintenance requirements, and fawns will lose weight. Environmental factors, animal individuality and other characteristics of the food (such as nutrient content) may alter this 50-percent digestibility limit.

When adult whitetailed does were fed northern white cedar fronds with a dry-matter digestibility of 60 percent, dry-matter consumption in a Michigan winter was 0.58 kilogram (1.28 pounds) per day, and the does lost weight (Ullrey et al. 1972). Greater weight loss was experienced when the deer were fed bigtooth aspen shoots with a dry-matter digestibility of 49 percent. Dry-matter intake was only 0. 17 kilogram (0.37 pound) per day. Since daily energy intake must balance daily energy loss if weight is to be maintained, any factor that results in very low intakes of food, regardless of digestible-energy density, will be detrimental.

Seasonal factors, and related physiological cycles, also influence dry-matter intake. Young deer fed a pelleted diet with a dry-matter digestibility of 65 percent showed a marked decline in food consumption and weight in midwinter in New Hampshire (Holter et al. 1977). Food intake by free-roaming adult mule deer in Colorado showed a similar pattern, being greatest in summer; however, food intake by sub adults showed little fluctuation (Alldredge et al. 1974). In the South (Short et al. 1969a), captive yearling whitetails increased food consumption from lows in November and December to highs in spring. Food consumption generally decreased during the hot, humid southern summer, but increased slightly in August for bucks and gradually increased from July to October for does. It then fell rapidly to lows in late autumn and early winter. In a northern Michigan winter study, activity and browse consumption by fawns and adult does was high during December-January and in late March (Ozoga and Verme 1970). Activity and food consumption were reduced in the interim. Peaks of activity were noted at four- to six-hour intervals-sunrise, midday, sunset and twice during the night. As winter progressed, nocturnal and early morning movements were reduced, and food consumption was concentrated during the warmer part of the day. Such behavior represents an attempt to maximize energy conservation when food is scarce or of limited nutritive value.

Whitetail Deer Nutrient Requirements

Although not experimentally established in every case, qualitative nutrient requirements of the adult deer probably include water, energy, nitrogen, essential fatty acids, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, chlorine, potassium, sulfur, iron, copper, iodine, cobalt, manganese, selenium, chromium, fluorine, nickel, silicon, vanadium, tin, arsenic, molybdenum, vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E.

In addition, some indigestible fiber must be present in the diet to support normal digestive tract function. Nursing fawns require the aforementioned nutrients plus vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, folic acid, biotin and cobalamin. Essential amino acids for the young fawn probably include arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Quantitative nutrient requirements have been established in only a few instances. Water requirements vary with climatic conditions, type of food, physiological state (growth, maintenance, lactation) and amount of activity. In 2 temperate environment, captive pregnant whitetailed deer typically consume two to three times is much water as dry matter. The amount of liquid water consumed is inversely proportional to the concentration of water in food. Snow may be consumed when liquid water is unavailable.

The daily digestible energy requirement for maintenance of pregnant does in a Michigan winter was determined to be 155 to 160 kilocalories per unit of metabolic size (kilograms of body weight 0.75) (Ullrey et al. 1969, 1970). Croyle found that male and female fawns required 168 and 155 kilocalories of digestible energy per kilogram of body weight O.75 , respectively, for maintenance in a temperate environment. Thompson et al. (1973) found that fawns required 199 kilocalories of digestible energy per kilogram of body weight O.71 daily for growth during their first summer, and 144 kilocalories of digestible energy per kilogram of body weight 0.75 for maintenance during their first winter. Free-ranging deer will undoubtedly have higher energy requirements due to the additional costs of foraging for food. Movement in snow greatly increases energy expenditure, with highest values occurring when deer sink to depths of 25 to 30 centimeters (10-12 inches) or more (Mattfeld 1974). Energy costs of maintaining body temperature are related to heat loss as influenced by exposure to cold and wind, and the insulative properties of subcutaneous fat and body hair. By lying in a curled position underneath evergreens, a deer can minimize heat loss to the immediate environment and the cold winter sky. Energy costs for reproduction are barely discernible from those for maintenance except during the last third of pregnancy and during lactation, when energy requirements are related to milk production.

Protein requirements for growth of fawns after weaning were estimated to be 14 to 22 percent (dry-matter basis), with males having higher requirements than did females (Ullrey et al. 1967b). S. H. Smith et al. (1975) proposed that approximately 24 percent protein (dry-matter basis) was required for maximum tissue nitrogen balance by weaned fawns, but as Hegsted (1964) pointed out, an animal may be in nitrogen equilibrium over a wide range of dietary nitrogen intakes. Nitrogen intakes required to maintain or build labile protein reserves are higher than those required to support minimal requirements. Holter et al. (1977, 1979) suggested that about 1 percent protein (dry-matter basis) is adequate for yearling deer. Protein requirements for maintenance of adults may be as low as 6 to 10 percent (dry basis) (French et al. 1956, McEwen et al. 1957). Protein requirements for gestation and antler development are probably intermediate - between those for growth and maintenance, while lactation requirements likely approximate those for growth.

Neither quantitative nor qualitative fatty-acid requirements for deer have been published. An unpublished study (Ullrey et al. 1972) of the effects of low-fat and low-linoleic-acid diets on gestation and lactation in whitetailed deer revealed no deficiency signs, nor any reproductive response to linoleic-acid supplementation.

Calcium requirements (dry-matter basis) to support growth, skeletal development and antler development of weaned fawns are about 0.45 percent (Ullrey et al. 1973). Phosphorus requirements (dry-matter basis) do not exceed 0.28 percent and may be lower (Ullrey et al. 1975a).

 Other elements that sometimes may be deficient in natural ecosystems (because of the geological origin of the soil and particular climatic conditions) are sodium, cobalt, iodine and selenium. Terrestrial browse species may contain sodium concentrations appreciably lower than those considered necessary for domestic ruminants. Whitetailed deer may adapt by using sodium-containing mineral licks (Weeks and Kirpatrick 1976, Weeks 1978). Cobalt deficiencies have been described in domestic ruminants in New York, but whitetailed deer in that region did not seem limited by a shortage of this element (Smith et al. 1963).

Iodine concentrations in deer foods in Michigan range from 0.008 to 3.1 parts per million (dry basis), with the minimum value far below the requirements for domestic livestock species (Watkins 1980). Selective foraging presumably helps deer meet their iodine needs. Watkins (1980) established that a diet containing 0.26 parts per million of iodine (dry basis) is adequate for maintenance and reproduction in captive whitetailed deer.

Selenium-deficient areas are widespread in the United States, with an apparent relationship existing between browse-selenium concentrations and those in the muscle tissue of free-ranging deer (Ullrey et al. 1981). Based on a number of parameters, dietary selenium concentrations of 0.2 parts per million probably are adequate for deer, but freedom from deficiency lesions also is dependent on dietary supplies of vitamin E and the degree of stress to which deer may be exposed (Brady et al. 1978).

Very little research has been conducted on the vitamin requirements of deer. Based on comparisons of liver vitamin-A concentrations in deer with those in domestic ruminants, incipient vitamin-A deficiency was suspected in 2 to 3 percent of vehicle-killed deer at the end of winter in Michigan (Youatt et al. 1976). Vitamin-D requirements presumably are met by exposure to sunlight and conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to cholecalciferol (D3) in the skin, or else by consumption of ultraviolet-irradiated dead-plant material (irradiation resulting in conversion of ergosterol to ergocalciferol [D2]). Vitamin-E requirements probably do not exceed 45 International Units per kilogram of dry diet when deer consume 0.2 parts per million of selenium and are not excessively stressed (Brady et al. 1978). However, it may be necessary for the diet to contain 80 or more International Units per kilogram to protect against peroxidative lesions in muscle of deer subjected to severe physical exertion. The need for vitamin K and B-vitamins in the diets of fawns before active rumen fermentation begins has not been explored.

Feeding Patterns

Deer spend more time feeding than in carrying on any other activity (Michael 1970). When traveling to and from feeding areas whitetails often move in single file at a fairly steady walk along well-established trails, occasionally stopping to take a few bites of food. Once in the feeding area they usually separate and move about, rarely stopping long enough to consume a food source completely.

The lead deer or the lead group usually determines the direction of travel (Michael 1970). It may be a yearling or an adult, a male or a female. An adult doe customarily assumes leadership in small groups of three to five. Individual deer do not maintain any particular place within the group. Leadership is most evident when one or two adult does are grouped with yearlings and fawns. When groups of bucks feed and bed together, it is difficult to identify a leader.

Michigan, Seasonal Habits

Deer on the Reserve have social systems similar to those of whitetail populations elsewhere in the region (Hirth 1977a). Small groups predominate due to heavy concealment cover. Individuals have home ranges that overlap and usually extend over parts of the major vegetation types Queal 1962). Deer use all of the vegetational types on the Reserve, shifting about as resources become available and the animals' physiological needs change.

Based on the mean for five years of pellet-group counts, measurements of habitat-use by plant phenological seasons show distinct patterns (McCullough 1982a) that relate primarily to food habits. However, there is substantial variation in use from year to year depending on the acorn crop size, amount of snowfall and other environmental variables. Deer are quite discriminatory, selecting the best food available in any given season.

In early spring, grasses predominate in the  whitetail diet, and use of openland habitats is prevalent. As forbs become more available in late spring and early summer, they replace  grasses in the diet. As most forbs begin to dry in late summer, the deer switch to green leafy browse and spend much of their time in the  wetland types, particularly tamarack swamps. The swamps also are the coolest type when temperatures are highest in July and  August. Acorns become available in autumn most years, and use of hardwood forests  increases rapidly as acorns become predominant  in the diet. If the acorn crop fails, autumn use of hardwood forests is low, as the deer seek out other seeds and fruits, including sumac,  hawthorn, lespedesa, apples, grape and chokeberry. These foods are taken in minimal amounts if acorns are available. In most years acorns disappear by late November. But particularly in years of heavy crop they will predominate in the diet into January, and the whitetails will paw through more than 0.3 meter 0 foot) of snow to obtain them. When acorns are gone, deer shift back to grass, which undergoes an autumn flush due to increased rainfall after the drier period in August and September. Grass remains green next to the ground throughout the winter, and deer feed on this material as well as on some green rosettes of forbs at ground level. Browse is used to fill out the winter diet.

These food habits hold as long as snow cover is not present. However, with a snow cover of 7.5 centimeters (3 inches), the deer abandon herbaceous diets and shift almost entirely to evergreen woody browse (Coblentz 1970), primarily redcedar, ground juniper and, to a much lesser extent, leatherleaf. Hardwood forest stands and tamarack swamps are used as thermal cover for bedding, and deer come into the openlands at night to obtain the two species of juniper, of which redcedar is by far the predominate.

Southeastern Canada, Habitat and Food

During winter, whitetailed deer of southeastern Canada concentrate in areas offering good sheltering cover. Stands of mature conifers are especially important when snow is deep (Telfer 1967b, Huot 1972, Drolet 1976). Mixed stands opened by partial cuttings usually offer the best combination of food and cover (Huot 1972, Drolet 1976). Hemlock is the best cover species, followed by white spruce, red spruce and balsam fir. Red spruce is particularly important in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Except in Nova Scotia, northern white cedar is present in most yards, but in dense stands it is less attractive than in good mixed stands (Huot 1972).

Over much of southeastern Canada deer feed primarily on browse in winter. The most important species in Quebec and Nova Scotia are beaked hazel, mountain maple, honeysuckle, sugar maple, red maple, striped maple, yellow birch, balsam fir and paper birch. Species of low nutritional value, such as balsam fir and paper birch or even alder and beech, are occasionally browsed in Nova Scotia. Preferred species such as northern white cedar usually are not available within the yards, and ground hemlock has been virtually eliminated by deer in Nova Scotia (Dodds 1963).

In Nova Scotia, overbrowsing can be a problem when whitetail densities exceed 6 per square kilometer (15 per square mile) as happened in some areas in the 1940s and 1950s. Deer winter ranges seldom are overused in most of Quebec and New Brunswick. Occasional severe winters usually reduce deer populations to a level that prevents chronic overbrowsing. Mortality occurs mainly when deer are restricted for long periods in closed stands where food is scarce and low in quality. The poorest winter ranges are found on Anticosti Island and Cape Breton. On Anticosti Island, balsam fir comprises 80 percent or more of the deer winter diet when snow depth reaches 25 centimeters (10 inches), Arboreal lichens, seaweed and white spruce are used frequently (Huot 1982). 

Summer distribution of whitetailed deer in southeastern Canada is associated with forest types (Drolet 1976). Whitetails consistently select habitats that contain mixed stands, openings and clearcuts. Good management of summer range should be aimed at producing a mosaic of dense and open-mixed stands, well interspersed with small (50-75-hectare: 125-185 acre) clearcuts. However, within the Boreal and Acadian Forest regions, adjacent clearcuts over a period of five years frequently cover 5 square kilometers (2 square miles) or more. 

Appalachian Mountains Region, Food and Feeding Habits

Whitetailed deer move slowly while browsing on twigs and leaves. Usually they do not feed long on one plant, but pick and select as they move, often choosing between plants of I the same species growing side by side. They also graze and utilize herbaceous plants - pending on the availability of the plants, time of year and soil type. Winter months are the most critical for food.

Harlow and Hooper (1972) analyzed the deer diet in the southern Appalachians by examining the rumen content of 298 deer. Food consumed in greatest abundance during the spring included green deciduous leaves and succulent stems of woody plants and green herbaceous stems and leaves. Yellow poplar fruit and green leaves, acorns, apples, and leaves of sourwood, honeysuckle, blueberry, blackberry, and legumes were the dominant items. The most abundant summer foods were green leaves of red maple, oak, sourwood, flowering dogwood and honeysuckle, leaves and stems of legumes, fruits of chinaberry, and fungi. Oak mast was the most abundant food item in autumn. Also, fruits of apple, persimmon and grape and green leaves of rhododendron and honeysuckle frequently were eaten. The most abundant evergreen forbs were galax and wintergreen. Other important food items included grasses, sedges and fungi. Major foods in the winter included dried leaves of deciduous woody plants, green herbaceous stems and leaves, grasses, sedges, and mushrooms. Hardened woody stems occurred frequently but in small amounts. Individual items included rhododendron, dry leaves of oak and green leaves of mountain laurel, honeysuckle and galax. Although rhododendron leaves frequently were found in autumn and winter samples, their presence in the diet indicated a shortage of palatable food.

Eastern Mixed Forests, Food and Feeding Habits

DeGarmo and Gill (1958), reported that 138 species of plants were eaten by deer in West Virginia. Barber (1962) found that 29 generic groups contributed significant amounts to the deer browse diet in Kentucky. Preference ratings for those plants are shown in Table 1.
 

In heavily forested portions of the Eastern Mixed Forest region, woody twigs probably make up less than 10 percent of the food consumed by deer (Stiteler and Shaw 1966). The amount of browse eaten by whitetails varies according to the severity of the winter weather. Browse has been utilized heavily in Kentucky only when other foods were scarce or covered for several weeks by deep snows. Browse was not eaten in great quantity in southeastern Ohio (Nixon et al. 1970). In mixed oak stands in Pennsylvania, whitetails preferred dry leaves over woody browse (Watts 1964). Shaw and Ripley placed the browse topic in a proper perspective with their statement that, although woody browse comprises a small part of a whitetail's year-round diet, it is an important part because of its availability during winter. 
 

When available, foods such as acorns other mast and fruits, leaves, herbs, clovers, grasses, or cultivated crops are preferred foods of the whitetailed deer. A close correlation was found between acorn production trends and deer condition trends in Kentucky (H. L. Barber 1971). Antler size of bucks increased following winters when a good acorn crop was Present but decreased in the years following poor acorn crops. Reproductive success of yearling does also was related to acorn availability.

Piedmont Plateau, (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland) Food and Feeding Habits

Plant groups utilized throughout the Piedmont by whitetailed deer are shown in Table 2. Japanese honeysuckle is reported to be the most important food during every season. Fruits of greenbrier, blueberry, sumac, grape, honeylocust and blackberry are seasonally important. When available, acorns are whitetails' first choice. Some species of mushrooms are consumed readily. They were particularly abundant in rumens of deer from the Forks Game Management Area in South Carolina and the Choccolocco Wildlife Management Area in Alabama (Kirkpatrick et al. 1969).
 

Coastal Plain States, Food and Feeding Habits

The diet of Coastal Plain whitetails is extremely varied. Murphy and Noble (1973) reported 81 species of plants utilized by deer in the bottomland hardwood area of Louisiana; Lay (1965b) identified 69 plant species utilized by deer in East Texas; and Harlow (1961) found 193 different deer food items in Florida.

Feeding habits of whitetailed deer of the Coastal Plain change seasonally (Halls 1970, Lay 1969, Short 1971, 1975). Fruits of such species as oaks, dwarf palmetto, American beautyberry, hawthorns and common persimmon are important during autumn and early winter when they are available. In late winter and early spring, grasses and winter rosettes of many composites are locally important. During spring and summer, tender shoots, 
 
 

Coastal Plain States, Food Quality and Quantity

Whitetail diets in upland forests of the Coastal Plain are deficient in protein and minerals, and probably account for the small size and relatively low density of the deer populations (Short et al. 1969a). Quantity of forage produced in some of the various forest types is best illustrated by estimated carrying capacity figures developed by the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission (1972); bottomland hardwood, one deer per 4 to 6 hectares (10-15 acres); mixed Pine/hardwood, one deer per 8 to 16 hectares (20-40 acres); upland hardwoods, one deer per 10 to 18 hectares (25-45 acres); shortleaf pine, one deer per 12 to 20 hectares (30-50 acres); and longleaf/slash pine, one deer per 24 to 32 hectares (60-80 acres). All available data indicate that highest quality deer foods are produced in bottomland hardwoods, and lowest quality foods occur in homogenous loblolly and slash pine forests.

Northern Great Lakes States and Ontario Forests, Food and Feeding Habits

Browse is the primary source of food for whitetails in the Northern Great Lakes States and Ontario Forests region, mainly because it is the only food available for nearly half the year. Northern white cedar, red maple, hemlock, American mountain-ash and alternate leaf, dogwood are high-preference winter foods for I whitetails. Second-level preference species include eastern white pine, yellow birch, mountain maple, serviceberry and jack pine. Next are aspen, northern red oak, beaked hazel, paper birch, balsam fir and red pine. Speckled alder, black and white spruce, and tamarack are last resort foods of the region's whitetailed: deer. On the other hand, acorns are highly preferred in autumn and winter, as are beechnuts and such fruits as black cherries and hawthorns. Fruit and mast crop production is inconsistent from year to year. Periods of abundance often are followed by several years of scarcity or failure.
After snow melts in early spring, deer spend most of their feeding time seeking herbaceous, vegetation (Healy 1971). The most common plants eaten are grasses, sedges, basal rosettes of perennial forbs such as sheep sorrel, and fiddleheads of bracken fern (McNeill 1971). Grassy openings in forests are especially important at this time of year (McCaffery and Creed 1969).

Succulent new growth of browse is the principal diet component of the region's whitetails in late spring and early summer. In newly cut forest stands, aspen root suckers, stump sprouts of oak and red maple, and seedlings of many kinds are eaten readily. From midsummer to early autumn, whitetails feed on a wide variety of herbs, shrubs and tree foliage. Aspen leaves are especially preferred (McCaffery et al. 1974b, Bauer 1977). In years of good production, serviceberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries and hawthorns are eaten in quantity. In autumn, leaves and herbs become less attractive, but early autumn rains usually stimulate grasses in edges and openings, and grazing increases accordingly. In years of good mast crops, acorns and beechnuts are preferred whitetail foods in early autumn and into winter. With the coming of frosts, the deer turn to woody browse. When snow arrives, they complete the shift. On the George Reserve in southern Michigan 7.6 centimeters (3 inches) of snow on the ground dramatically changed the herbaceous portion of whitetail diets from 63 percent to 0 (Coblentz 1970).

Midwest Oak/Hickory Forests, Food and Feeding Habits

Deer food availability varies widely among soil types, timber stand conditions and land uses. In national forests in Missouri, yields of preferred deer forage ranged from 31 to 69 kilograms of air-dry forage per hectare (28-62 pounds per acre) in summer, and from 27 to 37 kilograms of air-dry forage per hectare (24-33 pounds per acre) in winter. Yields usually were higher when pine or eastern redcedar were present because of their relatively open canopies (Murphy and Crawford 1970). In a northern Arkansas enclosure, oven-dry yields of preferred deer forage averaged 78 and 3 kilograms per hectare (70 and 3 pounds per acre) in summer and winter, respectively. Acorn yields ranged from 224 kilograms per hectare (200 pounds per acre) in good years to practically none in poor years (Segelquist et al. 1973).

When available, acorns are the most preferred whitetail food in autumn and winter (Lindzey 1950), and may comprise 50 percent or more of the animal's diet (Korschgen 1962). Competition for acorns is high since acorns are preferred by many other kinds of forest animals and are eaten by insects as well. Fruits of beech, coralberry, sumac, grapes, persimmon and honeylocust also are preferred by deer in autumn and winter (Korschgen 1962).

Preferred browse in Tennessee includes blackgum, honeysuckle, greenbrier, strawberry bush and sumac. Perennial plants that remain green during winter-such as aster, goldenrod, panicum, pussytoes, sedge rosettes and the foliage of eastern redcedar - may be used heavily (Dunkeson 1955, Korschgen, Segelquist et al. 1973). Considerable amounts of deciduous browse twigs and dead leaves are eaten when preferred foods are scarce (Segelquist et al. 1973). Where available, corn, soybeans, winter wheat and sorghum add significantly to the deer's diet (Korschgen 1962).

Although many kinds of plants are eaten by whitetails in spring and summer, only 26 are considered principal foods in the Missouri Ozarks (Korschgen et al. 1980). Grapes are very important. Other preferred species include elm, sumac, wild lettuce, fungi, blackberry, cinquefoil, common pokeberry, persimmon, flowering spurge, rusty blackhaw viburnum, rose and greenbrier. Agricultural plants, such as red clover, Korean lespedeza, soybeans, corn and sorghum, also are used heavily.

Midwest Agricultural Region, Food Habits

Agricultural crops, especially corn and soybeans, make up the major portion of the whitetail diet in the Midwest region (Korschgen 1962, Mustard and Wright 1964, Watt et al. 1967, Nixon et al. 1970). In Iowa, for example, crops made up 78 percent by weight, 56 percent by volume and 89 percent by occurrence of whitetail stomach samples analyzed (Mustard and Wright 1964). Included in the samples were corn (40 percent), soybeans (13 percent), alfalfa (3 percent), other grains (less than 1 percent), woody foods (21 percent), forbs (18 percent) and grasses (about 1 percent). Grain residues left in fields after crop harvest are utilized heavily by deer from September to April.

Central and Southern Plain States, Food Habits

Foods of whitetailed deer are quite similar throughout the Northern Plains. In Montana, preferred browse species include common chokecherry, serviceberry, skunkbush sumac, common snowberry and dogwood. Rose, rabbitbrush, greasewood, buffaloberry and various species of sagebrush are eaten to a lesser extent (Allen 1971). Common chokecherry, serviceberry and common snowberry are preferred in the South Dakota prairies, as are bearberry and snowberry in the northern Black Hills (Schneeweis et al. 1972). The most important autumn foods in the southern Black Hills are bearberry, grasses, creeping mahonia, common snowberry and forbs.

Texas, Food and Feeding Habits

Quantitative food habits data for whitetails are limited to results from one study in the Texas Panhandle, in which 29 stomachs were examined (Jackson 1961). Panhandle grape, shin oak, common persimmon, eastern cottonwood, western soapberry and Chickasaw plum were the most prevalent species. Grasses constituted 9 percent, forbs 6 percent and milo 13 percent of the diet.

Mohler et al. (1951) found that western snowberry constituted 21 percent, rose 12 percent and sunflower 10 percent of the native species eaten by mule deer on the Bessey Division of the Nebraska National Forest. In the Pine Ridge, corn, wheat, and alfalfa comprised 41 percent of the deer's diet. Western snowberry comprised 13 percent and ponderosa pine 18 percent of the native foods. In the North Platte Valley, farm crops contributed 51 percent of the diet, western snowberry 13 percent and cottonwood 6 percent. Although these Nebraska studies were all on mule deer, the results are indicative of whitetail diets in the same area (see Hill and Harris 1943).

Farm crops probably constitute 40 to 50 percent of the annual diet of whitetailed deer in most parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Where crops are adjacent to suitable cover, signs of browse use are relatively scarce.

Whitetailed deer in Texas prefer mast (acorns, nuts, fruit), the fresh green growth of woody plants, and forbs.

Deer in the Central Mineral Basin of the Edwards Plateau spent 62 percent of their feeding time consuming forbs and grasses, 7 percent for browse, and 31 percent for mast (Whisenhunt 1949). Rumens contained 42 percent mast, 24 percent browse, and 23 percent forbs and grasses.

In the Edwards Plateau, 74 species of herbaceous plants, 7 shrubs and 13 trees were utilized by whitetails (Hahn 1945). Oak leaves and acorns constituted 38 percent of the diet. Hackberry, Spanish oak, scrub oak, blackjack oak, post oak and live oak were preferred by deer, in that order (May 1959). Whitetails on the Kerr Wildlife Area - representative of the Edwards Plateau - preferred forbs, but shifted to browse when forbs were unavailable (McMahan 1964). Deer in the Edwards Plateau may change home range temporarily depending on the availability of preferred foods such as oak, common persimmon and honey mesquite mast, especially in areas overgrazed by livestock (Hahn 1945, McMahan 1966, Merrill et al. 1957, Reardon and Merrill 1976, Teer et al. 1965, Thomas et al. 1964). They preferred fertilized plants to unfertilized (Shult 1975).

Browse is the main source of whitetail food in the Post Oak Savannah. In one food habit study, deer stomachs contained 92 percent browse during autumn and winter, 70 percent grasses and sedges in late winter and early spring, and 67 percent browse in late spring and summer. At the Engeling Wildlife Area, in the Post Oak Savannah, browse constituted 85 percent, forbs 3 percent, grasses 11 percent and mushrooms 1 percent of the whitetail diet during autumn (Veteto et al. 197 1). The annual diet consisted of 60 percent browse, 19 percent grasses, 11 percent legumes and forbs, and 10 percent sedges, mushrooms, lichens and fruits. The more important plant foods were blackberry, yaupon, elm, greenbrier and low panicum grasses.

Woody plants and forbs most important to whitetailed deer in the Rolling Plains are broomweed, redberry juniper, scrub oak, fourwing saltbush, nailwort and catclaw acacia. Plains prickly pear accounted for more than 50 percent of the yearly diet of deer in northcentral Texas (Horejsi 1973).

Browse constitutes the major portion of deer diet in the South Texas Plains, but forbs rank relatively high (Davis 1951, Davis 1952, McMahan and Inglis 1974). Arnold (1976) reported that the whitetail diet consisted of 21 percent cacti, 33 percent browse, 27 percent forbs and 8 percent grass. Everitt and Drawe (1974) found that forbs comprised 37 percent of the deer's spring diet, browse 33 percent, cacti 18 percent and grass 3 percent. Davis and Winkler (1968), Drawe (1968) and Chamrad and Box (1968) stressed the importance of forbs, browse and cacti.

Cattle and deer compete for browse and green shoots during the winter months at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf prairies (Halloran 1943). Deer on the refuge rely mainly on acorns during autumn and winter. They eat browse sparingly, even though it is abundant (White 1973b).

Food habit studies have not been conducted in the Cross Timbers, Blackland prairies, and Trans-Pecos regions. However, general observations indicate that whitetails in the regions rely heavily on green forbs and grasses in spring and early summer, and consume large quantities of browse throughout the year.

Canada

The forage volume in 199 whitetailed deer rumens collected from November to May in Alberta during the period 1966-1975 averaged 60 percent browse, 26 percent forbs, 6 percent grasses and 8 percent unidentifiable material (Rhude and Hall 1977). Western snowberry, aspen and rose accounted for approximately two-thirds of the browse species consumed. Silverberry, common chokecherry, common juniper, willow, saskatoon serviceberry and bearberry comprised the balance. Important forbs were asters, peavine and scouringrush. Grasses and forbs were equal in volume to browse during April and May. Treichel and Hall (1975, 1976, 1977) examined rumens from 175 whitetails killed by collisions with vehicles on highways through farmlands of Alberta during winters of the period 1974-1977. They found alfalfa in about equal volume to native legumes. Cereal grains (wheat and barley) were found in about the same proportion as western snowberry, aspen and rose.

Quality of forage varies considerably between seasons and plant species. Common chokeberry, silverberry and peavine were higher in protein than other species during winter and spring of 1969-1970 at the Wainwright Military Reserve, but grasses and forbs were highest during spring green-up (Table 3). Carotene content was highest in rose hips, common juniper, bearberry and scouringrush during winter, but emerging grasses were highest in April and May (Table 4). Fat content was highest throughout winter in common juniper (5.9 percent), bearberry (4.3 percent) and aspen (3.5 percent).

In southeastern British Columbia leaves of Douglas-fir and bearberry were the two most important winter food items for whitetailed deer (Demarchi and Demarchi 1967). Several years of forest succession and fire control drastically reduced the shrub habitat, and deer relied heavily on Douglas-fir as an emergency winter food. The most important forbs were pussytoes, hoods phlox and wild strawberry. Bitterbrush and other deciduous browse species comprised less than 10 percent of the winter diet. In spring, grasses, forbs and deciduous browse were the major components of the deer diet. Pussytoes, dryad, anemones, arrowleaf balsam root, wild strawberry, penstemons and buttercups were most prevalent. By late May, the leaves of saskatoon serviceberry, willow, common snowberry and birchleaf spirea comprised the bulk of the whitetail diet. Field observations of bitterbrush indicated that it may be utilized significantly more than shown by rumen samples (Langin and Demarchi 1977).
 
 

*Percentage of dry weight.
 
 

Whitetails on the refuge were observed grazing on forbs and grasses almost exclusively during the early and mid-1970s. Suring (1974) and Suring and Vohs (1979) reported that grazing was detected in 99 percent of their nearly 18,000 observations of deer feeding. Stomach contents from 32 whitetails collected from all seasons in the period 1972 to 1977 consisted of grasses (59 percent), forbs (16 percent) and browse (25 percent) (B. B. Davitt personal communication: 1981). Essentially all browse consumed was nonwoody (such as blackberry leaves). Dublin (1980) concluded that Columbian whitetails on the refuge selected for browse in every season except spring and selected for forbs in all seasons, but selected against grass (relative to its availability) in autumn, winter and spring. It is possible that at least part of this paradox in describing the food habits of these deer is due to a change in vegetation height, productivity and availability on the refuge between the early and late 1970s.

Northern Rocky Mountains, Food Habits

Both evergreen and deciduous woody plants comprise more than half the midwinter diet of whitetails in the forests of Montana and Idaho. Douglas-fir and western redcedar are preferred conifers, while cottonwood and quaking aspen are preferred deciduous species (Singer 1979). In some areas, ponderosa pine is eaten readily and damaged by deer (Adams 1949). Creeping mahonia, Saskatoon serviceberry, common snowberry and redstern ceanothus are preferred nonconiferous species (Roberts 1956). Bearberry - a prostrate evergreen - and myrtle pachistima - a taller evergreen -  are important locally, and arboreal lichens are preferred when available (Keay and Peek 1980).

Spring diets are highly variable. Grasses and agricultural crops are important to whitetails in northcentral Montana (Kamps 1969, Martinka 1968), whereas forbs form a major share of the May diet in northwestern Montana (Hildebrand 1971). Alfalfa, clover and spreading pasqueflower are preferred forbs. Winter wheat also is highly palatable and, in local situations, may be severely damaged by deer. During late winter and early spring periods when green growth is initiated, forbs and grasses are sought (Keay and Peek 1980).

Forbs such as alfalfa and clover dominate summer diets in eastern portions of the region (Kamps 1969, Martinka 1968). In Latah County, Idaho, redstem ceanothus and common snowberry are important summer foods (Thilenius and Hungerford 1967), and forbs are common locally (Roberts 1956).

Autumn is a transition period when forbs of late summer give way to winter browse in the whitetail diet.

Agricultural crops are important to whitetails throughout the year and contribute to high deer populations along the forest/cropland ecotone. Browse is the major year-long diet along the western border of Glacier National Park (Singer 1979).

Southern Rocky Mountains

In spring, or a few weeks after the rainy season begins whitetails consume significant amounts of the new twig and leaf growth from numerous woody species. Many kinds of annual and perennial forbs and some grasses also are eaten during this time. At least 134 are known to be sources of food for deer (Arizona Game and Fish Department 1977). Vetch, fleabane, coralbells and false tarragon sagebrush are a few of the more important species.

At the end of the growing season in autumn, the whitetails' diet shifts toward browse. Deciduous leaves of woody species as well as the dried parts of some herbaceous perennials and annuals are consumed. After first frost, fallen leaves comprise a significant portion of the diet. The importance of browse in the diet continues to increase into the winter and spring. Mountain mahogany probably is the most important species (Arizona Game and Fish Department 1977). However, silktassel, desert ceanothus and skunkbush sumac also are eaten.

With the coming of warmer weather in early spring, filaree is one of the first species to green up. It is a choice forage of whitetails (Arizona Game and Fish Department 1977).
 

In the next article of this series we review the Hunting Tips & Techniques particular to the Species in Whitetail #5, all in the quest of better preparing ourselves in harvesting this wily creature, the Whitetail Deer....... 

Until Then Good Luck and God Bless.......Stu Keck