Urbanization is expanding throughout the globe, creating urban-rural gradients and altering wildlife communities. While some wildlife populations decline as human presence increases, others such as white-tailed deer persist in areas with transitional habitats and increased urbanization. However, densities of white-tailed deer along urban-rural gradients are poorly understood leading to gaps in population information and management despite continued deer use. We used a spatially explicit capture-recapture framework (SCR) with fecal DNA to estimate deer densities along an urban-rural gradient in Durham County, North Carolina. Sampling occurred at 356 plots across 7 sites with percent impervious surface ranging from 1% (rural) to 60% (urban), and included public and private lands with 120 participating landowners. Field collection took place in February and March 2023 over 3 weeks using a cluster sampling design. We collected 642 fecal samples resulting in 491 genotypes (≥8 microsatellite markers, 1 sex-determining marker) of 380 unique deer (252M:127F). Based on SCR estimates, sampling site densities ranged from
