History of the White-Tailed Deer

When Europeans came to the New World, the plentiful white-tailed deer played an important role in providing food for Native Americans. During 1539-42, the army of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto found venison and whitetail hides being used by Arkansas Indians. The Caddo Indian tribe of southwestern Arkansas and western Louisiana depended on whitetails as a food source.

By the early 1900s, though white-tailed deer numbers were declining throughout the state. Unrestricted hunting, accelerated land clearing and the influx of people settling in the state brought about their demise.

In 1916, the newly created Game and Fish Commission opened the state's first deer season, and in 1919, the bucks-only law was created. But the herd continued to decrease and in 1926-27, the first deer refuges were established in the state.

It was almost too late. By 1930, only a few hundred deer remained. Things began to turn around when the Game and Fish Commission bought deer from other states and trapped and relocated deer within the state.

During the 1940s, the Commission trapped and relocated more than 1800 deer throughout the state. The restoration effort, along with better public awareness and restrictive regulations, was a complete success, and today's herd numbers almost a million animals.

Characteristics

Arkansas whitetails breed from late September through February with the peak breeding season in the north occurring from October through mid-November and in the south from late October through early December. The pregnancy, or gestation, period takes 6 1/2 to 7 months. Fawns are born from mid-March through June. Twins are the norm for older does, while young does usually give birth to a single fawn.

Deer less than a year old, called fawns, are characterized by white spots over a reddish-brown coat. A row of spots runs from each ear to the tail along either side of the backbone and occur randomly on the trunk. They act as camouflage, blending in well with dappled sunlight reaching the forest floor.

Bucks grow their first set of antlers as yearlings during the spring and summer. Antlers are made up of true bone, and growth begins in mid-March to April. As the antlers appear, they are covered with a soft coating of blood vessels and nerves called "velvet." Growth continues until August of September. At this time, bucks rub the velvet off on small trees, fence posts or the ground revealing the hard bone antlers. The size of the rack depends on age and nutritional uptake. A buck's first rack can be anything from spikes to a 10-pointer. Bucks don't keep their antlers year-round, and they are shed during January and February.

Adult deer have a thin, reddish-brown coat in the summer months that is shed during August and September. It is replaced with a thicker brownish-gray winter coat that is shed during April and June. Adult females, called does, attain maximum weight in about four years, averaging 100 pounds. Males, or bucks, take 5-6 years to fill out and average about 150 pounds. Adult deer stand about three feet tall from the ground to shoulder.

White-tailed deer inhabit open woodlands, brushlands, mixed pine and hardwoods, pine, forest edges and second growth deciduous forest. They favor thick vegetative growth on cutover and burned-over areas which provide a food source of succulent leaves, twigs and shoots from various shrubs and trees.

Conservation

The white-tailed deer symbolizes the reasons why state wildlife agencies were created. For without their help, this noble big game animal would have disappeared a long time ago.

The white-tailed deer is the most popular game animal, big or small, in Arkansas and probably North America. Over 350,000 people hunt this majestic creature throughout the state each year, far outdistancing squirrel hunting as the most popular hunting activity. Also, millions more people enjoy feeding, watching and photographing whitetails.

At the request of hunters, the first laws were enacted to regulate hunting and protect threatened species just after the turn of the century. Since then, not a single wildlife species has become extinct due to regulated sport hunting.

Due to contributions by hunters, species like the wild turkey, white-tailed deer, wood duck, and bald eagle were brought back from the brink of extinction.

During the 1940s, the Commission trapped and relocated more than 1800 deer throughout the state. The restoration effort, along with better public awareness and restrictive regulations, was a complete success, and today's herd numbers almost a million animals.

Sport hunting for deer provides a valuable recreational opportunity, as well as pumping important dollars into the state's economy. Hunters take millions of pounds of edible whitetail meat annually in Arkansas. This provides an important food source for many people. Deer are also enjoyed by other wildlife enthusiasts, including photographers.

Management

In areas where their population is high deer can cause considerable damage to agricultural crops, local gardens, fruit orchards, tree farms and the smaller trees in forested land.

The keys to effective white-tailed deer management are maintaining quality habitat and controlled hunting. For a number of years now, deer biologists have found that an either-sex harvest is important in managing the herd. In certain areas, it has proved necessary in maintaining sustained and balanced herd productivity. The best way to effectively manage the white-tailed deer is to have a good knowledge of herd population.