Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Spring Food Habits of White-tailed Deer in the South Texas Plains
Author
Everitt, J. H.
Drawe, D. L.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1974-01-01
Body

During the spring seasons of 1970 and 1971, rumen analyses were used to determine food preferences of white-tailed deer on the H. B. Zachry Randado Ranch in South Texas. A total of 83 plant taxa were found to be eaten by this deer herd. Forbs comprised an average of 37.1% by volume of the diet, browse 33.1%, and cacti 17.5%, while grass comprised only 2.5% volume of the diet. Pricklypear cactus was heavily consumed and comprised an average of 15.4% of the total diet. Forbs were most heavily utilized in early spring. Perennial species were more prevalent than annuals in the diet. Important differences occurred in the diet between years, between early and late spring, and between the three major range sites on the study area. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/3896430
Additional Information
Everitt, J. H., & Drawe, D. L. (1974). Spring food habits of white-tailed deer in the South Texas Plains. Journal of Range Management, 27(1), 15-20.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/647196
Journal Volume
27
Journal Number
1
Journal Pages
15-20
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
Texas