#2001988 - 07/21/10 11:04 AM
Doe dispersal.......???
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
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Do DOES disperse and if so, why?
i read an article many years ago abour radio collared DOES that would travel long distances to breed, (20 plus miles). Once bred, they would travel back to their home territory. Biologists thought that these DOES were simply going back to their birthplace to breed and then back to where they lived to have the fawns. This was all a part of a big study on deer movement back in the 80's , I think......I'm not sure where this was done.
My question is.....do we know much about DOE dispersal and what causes it . I guess this example wouldn't be true dispersal since the Does would come back home after being bred, but I do find that behavior intriguing, to say the least.
Can anyone shed any light on this topic?
thanks
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#2002189 - 07/21/10 01:23 PM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Bottom Hunter,
Perhaps you "misremember" that research, as I've never heard of such a thing (does traveling to breed). HOWEVER, does definitely travel to have their fawns. And this fawning-time dispersal sometimes leads to permanent dispersal.
Although you will hear me say all the time that deer are not really territorial, one instance exists where deer (does) are extremely territorial, and that's during fawning time. In late spring, doe social groups break up, with each doe going her own way to find a fawning territory. These fawning territories vary in size depending upon deer density, but are usually in the 10-25 acre range. Once a doe establishes a fawning territory, she will defend it from other deer, as well as any other type of intruder, including dogs and humans (this is where most deer attacks on other animals occur).
It is believed fawning territories are chosen by dominance status within the doe soial group. The most dominant doe chooses her territory first, and will choose an area that includes the best mix of food, cover and security from predators. That is the advantage of being dominant (and why Nature favors dominant animals)--being dominant and getting "firt choice" of the best fawning territory increases the chances of offspring survival and optimal health.
The dominant doe will generally choice a fawning territory within or very near the social unit's normal range. Yet as does lower on the social ladder begin looking for their fawning territoy, all of the available space within their social unit's home range may have been claimed by does higher on the social ladder. This leads to the lowest does on the social ladder potential having to travel far outside their social unit's home range to find an unclaimed fawning territory. In high density herds, or areas where good security cover is very limited, some does travel many miles to find an unclaimed fawning territory.
And it is these does that are most likely to permanently disperse. It's impossible to know exactly why deer do anything, but it appears that does very low on their social unit's dominance ladder--once driven to travel far from their normal home range to find a fawning territory--find areas without as high of a concentration of does, and do not return to their social unit after their fawn is ready to travel. They stay in their fawning territory area and establish a new home range and new social unit, with themselves in the dominant position.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2002231 - 07/21/10 01:48 PM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: BSK]
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BowGuy84
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Registered: 09/16/07
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Interesting BSK. Don't does take prime habitat over bucks during this time?
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#2002237 - 07/21/10 01:50 PM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: BowGuy84]
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Winchester
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Interesting BSK. Don't does take prime habitat over bucks during this time?
Yes they do, old matriarch does will be in the best available food and cover during fawning time!
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#2002276 - 07/21/10 02:16 PM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: Winchester]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Interesting BSK. Don't does take prime habitat over bucks during this time? Yes they do, old matriarch does will be in the best available food and cover during fawning time!
Yup, the mother doe can be fiercely territorial against just about anything that enters her fawning teritory: other does, bucks, dogs, people, etc.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2003083 - 07/22/10 05:58 AM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: BSK]
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
Posts: 15480
Loc: Hatchie Bottoms
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BSK,
I may not remember details about this article but i do remember the jest of it. I think the story was in one of the hunting magazines....maybe Field and Stream or one of those.
Back then, my thirst for deer knowledge was unquenchable....
i remember it because it was like a two or three part article that dealt with deer movement and the oddities that can and do occur. Not that this Doe was the norm, but that she was doing something not common.
The same article dealt with a mature buck that was radio-collared and was found to spend roughly 90% of it's time in a standing corn field. he left only at night and then only to visit a local pond for a drink and maybe stretch his legs abit. very interesting stuff, IMO.
But, back to the Doe. if my memory serves me, this Doe would leave every year and make the journey back to the exact location just as she was coming in to heat. Once bred, she would come right back to where she started. Every year the biologists followed her journey and made sure that they made visual contact with her after she had given birth to "verify" what they suspected. I believe that the Doe eneded up dying on one of these journeys. The biologists found her body and retrieved the collar. the main reason that it stood out as described was because the Doe would make the journey to breed and NOt to fawn and the extreme distance that she went to do so. If she went to fawn, then she would have to travel back home with a fawn or two in tow.......which was not the case.
I have read many many articles on deer and the reason that I remember this specific one is simply because it was so amazing and so odd, IMO.
Some times, the unnatural things stand out. I've never read or even heard of this type behavior before or since.....
thanks
_________________________
There are some people who always seem angry and continuously look for conflict.
Walk away; the battle they are fighting is not with you, but with themselves.
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#2003282 - 07/22/10 08:43 AM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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Winchester
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I've never read or even heard of this type behavior before or since.....
I think you have answered your own question here.
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#2003308 - 07/22/10 09:04 AM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: Winchester]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Registered: 03/11/99
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Loc: Nashville, TN
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I've never read or even heard of this type behavior before or since..... I think you have answered your own question here.
Yup. If this were common behavior for deer, it would have been picked up in many other studies. I've read a bunch of telemetry studies and never seen anything like that reported.
Now deer living full-time in standing corn-fields in summer--that's a very common finding.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2005164 - 07/23/10 08:27 PM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: BSK]
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Boone 58
16 Point
Registered: 06/23/04
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Very interesting BSK! Thanks for taking the time to explain that!
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#2008496 - 07/27/10 10:09 AM
Re: Doe dispersal.......???
[Re: Boone 58]
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bowriter
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This is an excellet post well wort reading and ebated around many cmapfires.
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