Deer research continues to produce new, interesting and sometimes controversial findings. For example, application of new techniques and larger study sample sizes have generated evidence that challenges long-held beliefs regarding white-tailed deer reproductive behavior. Anyone who thinks they are completely versed in whitetail breeding-related behavior had better not become too entrenched in their way of thinking.
As I discussed in the September 2010 issue of Deer & Deer Hunting, a recent study using GPS radio-collars indicates estrous females do not necessarily employ a passive, energy-conserving — sit-and-wait — mating strategy, as formerly believed. Apparently, estrous females commonly leave their home range for a brief period in search of the best possible mate.
Likewise, researchers have apparently overestimated the importance of male dominance in the whitetail’s mating system.
Based largely upon observational data, we thought whitetails formed a strict breeding dominance hierarchy where a few of the most dominant bucks bred nearly all estrous does. Application of new genetic techniques that employ DNA analysis indicate this is not the case. Instead, the job of siring offspring
