Date of Award

Fall 12-1971

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Forestry and Wildlife Management

First Advisor

John Newsom

Abstract

The white-tailed deer, once widespread and fairly abundant throughout the Southeast, was reduced to an all-time low about 1920-1930. Unrestricted hunting for meat and hides and extensive agricultural developments were primary decimating factors.

This study was initiated in an attempt to determine major factors responsible for restoration of deer in suitable habitat and to present the status and relative distribution of deer during the mid to late 1960's in the eleven southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Restoration of deer was initiated through the establishment of federal and state refuges and management areas, promulgation and enforcement of hunting regulations, public support of restoration efforts, reversion of farmland to forests, and an extensive deer restocking program.

From 1890 to 1971, at least 32,330 deer were restocked in the eleven southeastern states. Deer were obtained in each southeastern state and were also acquired from 13 states outside the Southeast. Most of the out-of-state deer came from Wisconsin and Texas.

Deer are again common over most of the Southeast, except in urban and extensive agricultural areas. In 1968, hunters in the eleven southeastern states harvested about 343,700 deer from an estimated population of 2,645,000 deer.

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