2025 Southeast Deer Study Group

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Deer Management Assistance Program was initiated in 1999 with the purpose of providing technical assistance to hunting clubs in managing local deer herds and their habitat on private lands of Arkansas. In over 25 years of existence DMAP has seen participation rise but with accumulating workloads of the agency’s DMAP biologists, increasing turnover rates of both hunting clubs and staff, and the lack of clear focus; participation in DMAP began to wane. In 2021 the AGFC deemed private lands management a high priority, opening the way for the revitalization of DMAP. The agency streamlined administrative processes through standardization and automation of annual reporting and initiated a partnership with the National Deer Association to create five new cost share positions. Greenway Equipment was brought on as a corporate sponsor to increase technical assistance for the habitat management component of the program. The agency utilized an existing partnership with Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry in a new innovative way through DMAP deer donations. This helped clubs not only reach doe harvest goals but additionally helped address food insecurity issues in Arkansas. DMAP in Arkansas is now experiencing its highest participation and enrolled acreage in the past decade. Importantly, biologists are now spending more quality time with each club, receiving more CWD sample submissions, deer donations, and providing a higher quality annual report than ever before.

For 47 years, the nation’s first Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) has been providing cooperative guidance by professional wildlife biologists to hunters in Mississippi in efforts to better manage lands for healthier deer herds. In this study, DMAP deer harvest data was analyzed from the past four decades to describe the different changes in the deer herds over time when participating in the program compared to the first year a property is enrolled. Within the first five years, on average, doe harvest increased 44% and doe lactation went up 8%. Buck harvest also increased on average by 26%. Within the first 10 years, buck antler score potential at maturity increased on average by 14 inches and buck age increased by 40%. There was also variation in these changes over time depending on the decade the properties first enrolled in DMAP, the soil region of the state they were located, and depending on what percentage of the doe harvest recommendations from the biologist were met. Overall, this data shows significant beneficial changes over time in deer herds for properties enrolled in DMAP compared to their first year. This information will support efforts to educate the public on the benefits of DMAP, while helping in marketing for DMAP enrollment.

1, 2Joseph R. McDermott, 1Tommy Apostolopoulos, 1John T. Hast, 1Christine Casey, 1Kathleen Williams
1Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. 1 Sportsman’s Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601.
2Corresponding Author: Joseph R. McDermott. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife resources. 1 Sportsman’s Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) has had a CWD Response Plan in place since 2002. Approved by the Commission, the Plan’s main objective is to guide KDFWR’s initial actions upon a positive CWD detection either inside of the state or near the border. KDFWR first implemented its Response Plan in 2021 following multiple detections <10 miles from the border in Tennessee. Following three years of enhanced CWD surveillance, KDFWR detected its first positive case in a wild deer harvested in Ballard County, KY in late 2023. Less than one year later KDFWR received notification of another positive animal, this time in a captive deer nearly 200 miles east of the original detection. A discussion of the state agency’s response to these detections is found herein.

Gaining insights into what drives landowners' decisions to allow hunting on their land is vital for wildlife management, particularly given rapidly expanding suburban and urban environments. Through a cooperative project with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), researchers at NC State University successfully created a spatial-predictive model to estimate land available for hunting utilizing data from surveys of nonindustrial and industrial private landowners. Increasing property size, male ownership, length of time the property has been owned, property being used to earn income, and landowners with a rural upbringing were all positively related to a property being hunted. Higher housing and road density and older landowners were negatively related to a property being hunted. County estimates of the amount of available hunting land were calculated by running all privately owned parcels in North Carolina through the model. A second cooperative project between NCWRC and NC State is updating and expanding on the model, exploring how political identity predicts landowners' decisions about whether hunting will occur on their properties while accounting for several important socio-demographic and geographic variables and utilizing data from a survey of residents along an urban-to-rural gradient in Durham County, North Carolina. Findings of the most recent study revealed political identity as a significant predictor of hunting permission, with conservative landowners being 6 times more likely to permit hunting than their liberal counterparts. Gender also emerged as a notable factor, as properties owned by men were three times more likely to be hunted than those owned by women. Road density, gender, and political identity were identified as negative predictors of landowner hunting decisions in decreasing order of importance. Conversely, property size was the most important positive predictor for landowners allowing hunting, and the most important predictor of hunter access overall. These results illustrate the necessity of incorporating political, demographic, and geographic elements in discussions about how to effectively communicate with landowners regarding hunting access for wildlife management purposes, and the model can also improve wildlife population estimates by improving huntable land estimates.

Since first detecting chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the free-ranging white-tailed deer population in 2012, the Missouri Department of Conservation has implemented targeted removal to slow disease spread. Targeted removal is one of few interventions with evidence of efficacy yet is often met with resistance and lack of stakeholder support. As such, identifying the motivations and barriers of landowners to participating in targeted removal is key to addressing participation deficiencies and fostering landowner engagement in CWD management. We conducted 12 focus group meetings in Missouri during 2022 with landowners who owned property near where CWD has been detected. Motivations for participating in targeted removal included a sense of civic responsibility to people and/or the deer population, additional hunting opportunity, food, convenience of the removal program, and positive feelings about contributing to CWD management. Barriers or deterrents to participation included misunderstanding about CWD and the objectives of targeted removal, perception of low deer density, reluctance to relinquish what landowners felt was management control of their land during targeted removal, distain for targeted removal methods (e.g., night shooting, baiting), and objections about when targeted removal occurred (i.e., winter, after deer season). Landowner participation in targeted removal could likely be increased by communicating more effectively about CWD and the objectives of targeted removal to combat misinformation, providing additional opportunity during the regular deer season enabling hunters to play a more active role in disease management at that time of year, considering changes to targeted removal methodology, and working to align targeted removal goals with landowner deer management goals when possible.

In 2019, the Boone and Crockett Club (B&C) issued a position statement on baiting, stating that hunting over bait can be considered fair chase in some circumstances. Fair chase, as defined by B&C, “is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the game animal.” According to Aldo Leopold, an ethic is based on public support for right actions and opposition to wrong ones. Past surveys indicate that most of the general public, state wildlife agencies, and state wildlife agency deer biologists oppose hunting with bait. The major reason typically given by the general public is fair chase. Additionally, deer hunting over bait violates two principles of B&C’s definition of fair chase. First, providing food habituates deer to humans, making them less wild to the point of being semi-tame. Second, bait gives the hunter an unfair advantage by training deer to show up at a specific time and place. Lastly, hunting deer over bait is not fair chase just because it is “appropriate given the circumstances,” as written in the B&C position statement. The deer management objective does not determine fair chase. “Appropriate given the circumstances” renders the whole idea of fair chase meaningless. As noted by author Jim Posewitz, fair chase “addresses the balance between the hunter and the hunted,” and when there is doubt about whether a hunting practice is fair chase, “advantage must be given to the animal being hunted.” In my opinion, deer hunting over bait, regardless of the circumstances, is not fair chase.

The Westervelt Company owns over 600,000 acres of timberland across five Southeastern states. Prior to the 2022 hunting season, the use of bait, supplemental feed, and minerals was prohibited on Westervelt-owned property as a precaution to reduce risk for the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). While the practice of baiting and feeding white-tailed deer does has not been proven to cause CWD, it can play a role in its spread when the disease agent is present. Despite many customer opinions shared, there have been minimal negative impacts on our hunting lease business. In fact, we had several instances of positive feedback and support for our decision. In the fall of 2023, we surveyed our hunting lease customers to determine deer hunting motivations, effectiveness of previous educational campaigns, general CWD knowledge, and future plans if CWD is discovered in the area they hunt. The survey was distributed by email to our customers (n = 1,500) with a response rate of 27% (406 respondents). We found knowledge of CWD to be high, customers to be reachable via email for educational materials, and motivated to hunt for experiencing nature and viewing wildlife. Our survey results can help determine best management practices for engaging hunters on CWD with future communication and outreach efforts.

There is increased interest in creating cover specifically for deer bedding. Hinge-cutting has been used to develop “bedding blocks,” but there has been no evaluation of deer use. Hinge-cutting creates visual obstruction via the directional fell as well as regenerating stems and increased ground cover. We established four sites in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania in 2021 to evaluate deer response to hinge-cutting and the effects on vegetation. We established a 5-acre treatment unit and an adjacent 5-acre control unit at each site. We placed four camera traps in each unit. We quantified deer use pretreatment from February 2022 to February–May 2023, before implementing the treatment. We quantified deer use posttreatment through December 2023. We measured visual obstruction within 37 ft and recorded overstory and midstory stem density per acre surrounding camera traps in September 2024. We recorded understory species and grouped them into classes: forb, grass, semi-woody, and woody. Visual obstruction increased 154%, and midstory stems increased 34% following treatment. Hinge-cut tree survival was 72%, and girdled tree mortality was 97%. Understory coverage increased 63% for forbs, 100% for semi-woody, and 120% for woody species following treatment. Percent coverage of grasses decreased 4% in treatment and control. Daily deer detections during fawning season (May–July) decreased 6% in control and increased 146% in treatment after cutting. Daily detections during hunting season (October–December) decreased 24% in control and increased 78% in treatment. Our data indicate hinge-cutting can be used to increase visual obstruction and enhance bedding/loafing areas for deer.

Management of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids is dependent upon landowner access to private property. When access is allowed, CWD management strategies such as targeted removal of cervids can decrease local prevalence. However, the decision to allow property access rests on the landowner’s acceptance of wildlife management actions. Our objective was to evaluate the willingness of landowners to allow access and quantify acceptable financial incentives for targeted removals on their property. We distributed a survey containing a discrete choice experiment (CE) to elicit landowners’ willingness to accept (WTA) payments. Landowners received eight choice questions, each with two targeted removal alternatives and an opt-out option (i.e., no management). The alternatives were composed of three attributes: removal restriction (sex/age of deer removed), implementing agency (state or federal agent), and payment per deer removed ($0-$150). The CE was distributed to landowners in 6 states across the USA with varying levels of CWD prevalence in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). We found that landowners require the highest payment for male deer removal conducted by a federal wildlife agent compared to a non sex/age specified removal by a state wildlife agent. We also found that landowners value no targeted removal management at $227 per deer (95% CI; $214.34-$240.16). Significant differences in landowners' WTA were observed based on hunting status, region, state-level CWD prevalence, and county-level prevalence. The results from this research will inform resource managers tasked with conducting targeted removals to manage CWD as new detections of the disease emerge.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, high seroprevalence of the viral pathogen SARS-CoV-2 (SCV2) was reported in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in multiple locations across the USA. This has led to widespread concern that white-tailed deer could act as a “reservoir” for SCV2, enabling the long-term persistence and spillback of SCV2 into human populations.  However, we lack an understanding of how white-tailed deer movements affect among-deer transmission of SCV2, hindering our ability to predict when populations might act as reservoirs. Focusing on a population in west Tennessee, we combined two years of movement data from 66 deer, landscape-level seroprevalence sampling of 173 deer, and epidemiological modeling to ask:  Under what ecological and epidemiological conditions can white-tailed deer act as a reservoir host for SCV2?  We detected at least two strains of SCV2 in our study population with seroprevalence ranging from 5%-10%, indicating multiple exposure events.  Using our empirical movement data, we built an epidemiological model that accounted for empirically realistic, seasonally varying animal movements. We found that high site fidelity of animals and seasonally varying social interactions made it highly unlikely that SCV2 could persist in the deer population for three or more years. These results held even with high levels of young male dispersal and simulated densities of deer up to 52 per square mile. Thus, despite broad categorization of white-tailed deer as reservoir hosts for SCV2, spatial and social dynamics of west Tennessee deer make it very difficult for SCV2 to persist without repeated spillover events from some external source.

Effective biosecurity practices are essential for mitigating intraspecies and zoonotic disease transmission during human-wildlife interactions, yet it is unclear how infection control policies are put into action by those working with cervids. We evaluated biosecurity practices among professionals working with cervids in the U.S. and Canada via an electronic survey conducted between March 2024 and June 2024. Study objectives were to identify pathogens of concern, describe current biosecurity protocols, evaluate the effectiveness of disinfecting practices against pathogens of concern, and explore associations between practices and factors such as profession, regional endemic diseases, and the nature of interactions. Survey respondents were primarily composed of ecologists/biologists (n=37, 47.4%), veterinarians (n=36, 46.2%), and managers or wildlife capture professionals lacking those backgrounds (n=5, 5.4%). Respondents identified Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and SARS-CoV-2 as primary pathogens of concern, with CWD being the most frequently targeted for disinfection, even in non-endemic areas. Use of personal protective equipment was common. While most respondents indicated the existence of biosecurity protocols, adherence was inconsistent, particularly in free-ranging settings versus captive settings. Disinfection frequency also varied in association with professional background. Respondents in regions where CWD was endemic were more likely to have formal biosecurity policies and protocols compared to non-endemic areas. Our study also identified infection control gaps, with some respondents using ineffective disinfectants or suboptimal concentrations against reported pathogens of concern. These findings highlight the need for standardized, evidence-based guidelines when developing, implementing, and updating cervid biosecurity protocols, particularly regarding effective disinfectant use.

Toxoplasmosis (causative agent Toxoplasma gondii) is a zoonotic disease that causes significant morbidity in animals and humans. In wildlife, T. gondii infection may influence reproduction and behavior, including induced abortion, increased aggression, and abnormal movement; however, prevalence and sublethal impacts are poorly understood. To investigate T. gondii influence on white-tailed deer population dynamics, we used four years of biological and known fate data from a deer population in southern Texas to determine T. gondii prevalence and survival of does and their offspring as a function of doe serostatus. Serology revealed 29 of 59 (49%) does had a titer of ≥1:25 on a modified agglutination test, and were considered seropositive for T. gondii. From 2020-2023, Kaplan-Meier annual survival of seropositive and seronegative does ranged from 70-100% and 85-100%, respectively. Adult survival was high except in 2022, a year with harsh winter and drought conditions, when survival of seropositive does was lower than that of seronegative does (70% vs. 85%, respectively). Across all years, survival of fawns from seropositive and seronegative does did not differ. However, in 2021, a year with above average rain, fawns born to seropositive does had lower survival (20% vs 46%). These trends suggest that T. gondii infection may compound the effects of external stressors on adult white-tailed deer when conditions are poor, but have a more noticeable influence on fawn survival when conditions are optimal. Further understanding of sublethal effects of T. gondii infection is needed to assess potential impact on survival and recruitment in wildlife populations.

White-tailed deer are crepuscular, short-day breeders that use rubs and scrapes (i.e., signposts) in the environment to communicate physiological status to conspecifics. Deer optical anatomy and visual capabilities are relatively well-understood including sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. UV wavelengths are present during crepuscular hours but are not visible to humans. Previous studies have described signposts and their use by deer but quantification of the spectral characteristics, including photoluminescence (i.e., glow resulting from exposure to UV), and how the spectral characteristics of signposts shape deer environmental perception, is unknown. The goal of our study was to quantify the spectral characteristics of signposts, including visibility outside the human visual range and relate our findings to what is known about deer vision. We located 148 signposts (rubs = 110, scrapes = 38) from 8 September – 12 November 2024 in the Piedmont of Georgia. We exposed signposts to 365 and 395 nm UV lights while measuring reflectance/photoluminescence with a telescoping spectral radiometer. We collected spectral data at night to simulate laboratory conditions. We found that the contrast between signposts and the surrounding environment was relatively high including wavelengths outside of the human visual range (based on sources such as urine-based photoluminescence). These data suggest that deer behavior relative to signposts is likely based on visual cues, especially in low light conditions, that are not seen by human observers and gives a new perspective to deer behavior based on visual ecology.

The continuing geographic spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) poses a significant threat to the long-term sustainability of cervid populations, hunting traditions, and private land management across North America. Despite extensive research, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the mechanisms and factors driving CWD transmission. Wildlife agencies are actively working to mitigate the risks posed by this disease, but effective responses require a better understanding of the disease dynamics and the impact of management actions. One promising approach for addressing these uncertainties is the integration of simulation models with policy decision-making processes.
Here, we demonstrate the use of OvCWD, a published agent-based modeling framework, to evaluate and compare regional CWD management strategies. Specifically, we highlight how OvCWD models simulate disease spread in deer populations, enabling the comparison of various management interventions aimed at reducing the hazard rate of CWD (i.e., the force of infection). The force of infection metric allows for an estimation of disease burden and helps assess the effectiveness of management strategies. OvCWD models provide valuable insights into the potential outcomes of different interventions and can support the design of locally relevant CWD management strategies.

The integration of depth, RGB, and Infrared (IR) sensors provides a transformative solution for wildlife management by automating distance measurements and enhancing Detection, Classification, Recognition, and Identification (DCRI) capabilities. Traditional wildlife monitoring methods require manual distance measurements, which are time-consuming and prone to error. This sensor package addresses these challenges by capturing depth, IR, and RGB data, enabling precise, automated distance calculations. By leveraging depth data, the system offers accurate distance measurements without the need for manual input, improving the efficiency and reliability of wildlife density estimation in large-scale studies.

In addition to distance measurement efficiency improvements, the system enhances DCRI capabilities through a machine learning (ML) model that processes fused depth, IR, and RGB data. The system’s DCRI capabilities are more agnostic to geographic location, meaning that the model does not require geographically specific training data to perform effectively. By combining depth and standard (two dimensional) image information, the model can detect, classify, recognize, and identify animals in a wider range of environmental conditions. This flexibility ensures that the system can be applied in diverse ecosystems without the need for retraining or specialized data for specific regions, making it suitable for large-scale, real-time wildlife monitoring.

This system provides scalable, data-driven insights for wildlife population monitoring and conservation. By automating distance measurements and enhancing DCRI through ML, it significantly advances the efficiency and accuracy of wildlife management and conservation efforts.

We work hard to minimize iatrogenic effects on deer during capture events. We have many ground capture options (e.g., darting, drop nets, and Clover traps) and helicopter net gunning to safely capture deer. However less is known about how these methods affect stress hormones (cortisol) and indicators of metabolic demand on the animals including serum concentrations of creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and lactate. Understanding stressors is especially important in an area with high CWD prevalence. During winter of 2023-2024, we captured (ground and helicopter aided) 75 deer in West Tennessee in an area of high CWD to place collars and collect biological samples. We measured cortisol from deer in both years. We measured metabolic indicators in 2024 (mainly helicopter captures). Thirteen deer died within the first 30 days. We tested CWD status on 8 of the mortalities with 4 CWD+ and 4 CWD-. Although small sample size and high variability of the early mortalities with known CWD status, we found a mean cortisol of 6.5 ug/dl for CWD+ (n=3) and 4.4 ug/dl for CWD- (n=3). Cortisol was higher for helicopter captures (5.3 ug/dl, n=42) compared to Clover traps (4.6 ug/dl, n=3), drop nets (3.5 ug/dl, n=11), and darting (2.5 ug/dl, n=3). All physiological measures of metabolism were high for helicopter captures including lactate mean of 30.7 mmol/L. Helicopters with net gunning appeared to be the most stressful physiologically capture method. Stress may be higher in individuals in CWD enzootic areas and be exacerbated by capture events.

White-tailed deer body and antler size vary widely across their geographic distribution, and managers are interested in factors associated with larger morphometrics. Previous work has considered landscape and temperature effects on morphology, but there is limited information on how these factors interact with site-specific forage availability to determine body and antler size. We collected body mass, antler size, and site-specific growing-season forage availability from 35 properties across 21 eastern U.S. states. Average female body mass increased by 1.7 pounds for every 1˚F decrease in average annual temperature and increased by 3.5 pounds for every 10-percentage point increase in landscape crop coverage. Mature male antler size also correlated with temperature and crop coverage, with antler size increasing by 1.1 inches for every 1˚F decrease in temperature and increasing by 2.8 inches for every 10-percentage point increase in crop coverage. After controlling for landscape effects, adult female body mass increased by 0.13 pounds for every 1 deer day/acre increase in site-specific nutritional carrying capacity based on a 0.3% phosphorus constraint (PNCC). Mature male antler size was marginally correlated with PNCC as well, with antler size increasing by 0.1 inch for every 1 deer day/acre increase in PNCC. Our results indicate climate and landscape variables promoting growing-season forage have a consistent influence on morphology, and we found support for site-specific forage availability influencing female body and male antler size. We recommend managers increase site-specific nutritional availability within the context of landscape-level nutrition to help shape expectations if increasing deer morphometrics is an objective.

Hunters killed more antlerless deer than bucks for the first time in 1999. Doe harvests remained high many seasons afterwards; however, that trend faded by 2015, and we have since struggled to kill more antlerless than antlered deer. Our annual Deer Report contains evidence for renewed emphasis on doe harvest in the USA. We surveyed state wildlife agencies and collected data on the number of white-tailed deer harvested during the 2023-24 season and prior, the percentage of Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) currently at/above/below density goals, trends in fawn recruitment (FRR) and doe fawn breeding rates, depredation permits, and urban deer issues. In total, 21 of 37 states (57%) shot fewer antlerless deer in 2023 than their five-year average, and the combined harvest decreased 3% from 2022 in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast regions. A quarter of all WMUs in these same regions maintained deer densities above goal five years ago, and that number has risen to 43% today. The Southeast had the largest increase, with the percentage of WMUs above goal rising from 19% in 2018 to 48% in 2023. Since 2014 the national FRR has decreased 10%, and the proportion of doe fawns breeding has declined from 13% to 10% since 2016. Twenty-one of 36 states (58%) issued more depredation tags than they did five years ago, while only six states (17%) reported issuing less. Because of this changing landscape, it is more urgent than ever that hunters do their part to harvest an appropriate number of antlerless deer.

Hunters are our nation’s original conservationists. To highlight the benefits of hunting and the importance of deer hunters to our wildlife programs the Southeast Deer Partnership initiated a multi-phase project in 2020 to increase awareness of the benefits of deer hunters and hunting to wildlife programs in the Southeast, including impacts to at-risk species. This “value of deer” project highlighted the economic, social and conservation benefits of deer hunting and included state-specific data on habitat management activities by deer hunters on private lands. The study area included the 15 states in the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) region. Research revealed greater than 6.7 million paid hunting license holders purchase over 12 million licenses, tags, permits and stamps annually, and hunting license sales exceed $251 million in the SEAFWA region. Deer hunting in this region supports approximately 209,000 jobs and $2.1 billion in local, state and federal taxes. Southeast deer hunters spend $183 million on wildlife plantings and over $1 billion on land leased primarily for deer hunting. A public education and marketing campaign promoting the value of deer ensued during 2024. The campaign included a documentary titled Wildtail: American’s Wildest Conservation Success Story and used print, digital and social media formats. The documentary was viewed over 1.1 million times on YouTube and received over 2.3 million Google ad impressions. The overall campaign received over 18.5 million impressions and was one of the largest value of deer promotions to date.