If deer are to survive : how to meet food and cover needs

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Abstract:

Dasmann surveys the many close dependencies between deer and their habitat and details specific techniques for dependability increasing or decreasing herds to keep them in balance within their habitat and with other desired uses of the land. Studies in every area of the country reveal the problems in supplemental feeding...the limits of deer range...facts about predation and competition with livestock...efficient habitat management in brushlands and forest...and quick ways to recognize overpopulation, are thoroughly explained.

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For the naturalist, environmentalist, outdoorsman, farmer, range manager – and anyone who has ever enjoyed the sight of a proud buck or a doe with fawns – William Dasmann reveals the latest findings about their food, water, cover, and space needs and how we must meet them.

As once young forests mature and close out sunlight essential for the growth of plants that deer browse on – or use of land changes to meet the needs of a changing society – the regulation of hunting season, by itself, is no longer an adequate means of sustaining deer herds. A more imaginative program of habitat management must be instituted if healthy herds are to be maintained at anything like their present levels.

The wildlife management movement, developed and flourishing over the past seventy years, has demonstrated that deer – among the most manageable and adaptable of wild creatures – can be maintained in proper balance of habitat and population when sound biological principles are applied to their environment.

Here, Dasmann surveys the many close dependencies between deer and their habitat and details specific techniques for dependably increasing or decreasing herds to keep them in balance within their habitat and with other desired uses of the land. Studies in every area of the country reveal 1) why the amount of food, water, and cover limits deer populations and determines the size of their home range; 2) how logging or brush manipulation can beneficially intermix cover and feeding areas; 3) when and how to supplement water supplies; 4) scientific facts about forage relationships, food preferences, and the nutritional requirements of healthy, reproductive deer; and 5) how the proportion of grasses, forbs, and browse plants in deer diets varies according to seasonal changes in the nutritional composition of each.

The problems in supplemental feeding… the limits of deer range… facts about predation and competition with livestock… efficient habitat management in brushlands and forest… and quick ways to recognize overpopulation, are thoroughly explained.

The most humane reason for sensible management lies in the fact that when deer increase beyond the numbers supportable on their range, the animals suffer. IF DEER ARE TO SURVIVE explains that excessive browsing causes plants to lose vigor and produce less growth. Food deficiency causes deer to decline in weight and size, becoming highly susceptible to disease, parasites, and accident. One of the principal objectives of deer management is to maintain their population at a level commensurate with health and productivity, with every consideration for other uses of the land.

Since nothing is static in nature, the need to increase of decrease herds fluctuates with the good and poor years of a given area… pointing conclusively to the wisdom of overseeing the animal/habitat interaction.

In an Information Kit at the back of the book, IF DEER ARE TO SURVIVE provides the common and scientific names of deer, common and scientific names of western and eastern plants, and the monthly variation in percentage of crude protein in western and eastern plants. Throughout, tables provide useful data on deer needs and land use factors.

Through the application of available scientific facts these splendid animals can exist with and for man as successfully as they existed on this continent before the advent of the white man. But with the firm conviction that this will only be so through careful management of herds and habitat, the Wildlife Management Institute presents the facts – and the use that must be made of them – while there is time to preserve a species and an environment that continues to mean a great deal to man.

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Location: FLORISTIC SHELF – GENERAL <br>