Deer populations living in balance with their habitat have access to high-quality foods, which allows them to achieve maximum body condition, and in turn realize their full reproductive potential. However, as deer populations increase and habitat degrades, body condition and reproductive performance suffer.
During the early 1980s, late ’90s, and most recently from 2010 to 2012, Ohio Division of Wildlife staff collected reproductive tracts from road-killed does to determine pregnancy status. They examined 404 does in 1982-83, 1,028 in 1997-99, and 1,153 in 2010-12.
Because they are the most sensitive to environmental stressors (both biological and sociological), the pregnancy status of doe fawns serves as an ideal indicator of overall deer herd condition. As deer numbers increase and/or habitat quality declines, fewer doe fawns will attain the necessary body condition…
