Summary

Description

A study assessing the effects of changes in deer density on physical parameters of deer in northwest Florida flatwoods. Biological data from whitetailed deer harvested from a pine flatwood study site in northwest Florida from 198089 were used to evaluate the relationship between herd density and physical parameters. Deer density was reduced significantly P 0.001 during the study period, however, no differences were observed among years between live weight P. 0.68, beam length P. 0.84, and antler points P. 0.78 of yearling bucks. Linear regression also failed to identify significant relationships P 0.05 between population density and these parameters. Although density was reduced by over 3times, improvements in deer physical parameters were not observed. It appearedred that herd reduction did little to improve nutritional plane. Apparently, the physical parameters of deer were insensitive to changes in density and their use in population management on poor quality habitats may be limited.