Population ecology of the Columbian white-tailed deer

Graduation date: 1979A population of Columbian white-tailed deer (CWTD) was studied on a\ud refuge (790 ha) in southwestern Washington during 1972-77. Quality of\ud habitat was considered good for these deer and total population size remained\ud between 164-230 as determined by mark-recapture methods during\ud November. Population size declined significantly between the winters of\ud 1974-75 and 1975-76. All sex-age classes exhibited a contagious dispersion\ud on the study area; the locations of high density areas among these\ud classes differed slightly. Sex ratio at birth did not differ significantly\ud from 1:1, but females outnumbered males 3:1 among yearlings and\ud adults. Fawn:doe ratios ranged from 35-60 fawns per 100 does in\ud November. From 1972-77, yearling and adult males comprised 18-21% of\ud the November population, yearling and adult females 50-60% and fawns\ud 21-31%. Limited data on reproduction indicated that all yearling and\ud adult females bred and typically carried 2 fawns, while female fawns did\ud not breed. There was a significant inverse correlation between recruitment\ud rates of marked females (≥ 3.5 years old) and the population\ud estimate for November of the previous year (r = -0.999, P