Hunsaker Matthew A, Gilbertson Marie L J, Storm Daniel J, Turner Wendy C
Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison Wisconsin USA.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Eau Claire Wisconsin USA.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Jul 9;15(7):e71589. doi: 10.1002/ece3.71589. eCollection 2025 Jul.
White-tailed deer (; hereafter, deer) have been widely studied regarding their breeding ecology and responses to hunting pressures. However, variations in defining the breeding season-its duration and timing-across studies have created uncertainty about whether regional differences in deer breeding ecology stem from ecological factors or methodological inconsistencies. This study aims to clarify the peak breeding season timing and the movement patterns of males during this period, particularly in relation to hunting seasons. Understanding how age and the timing of hunting seasons impact movement and breeding behaviors is important for wildlife managers, as these factors can affect harvest success. This study took place in southwest Wisconsin, using GPS data collected from 188 collared male deer between 15 October and 1 December from 2017 to 2020. Based on generalized linear mixed models, 2-year-old males exhibited higher hourly movement rates than other ages, and the opening weekend of the firearm hunting season had no significant effect on movement rates. In contrast, the variance in daily movement rate differed significantly between yearlings and older ages, with males 3 years and older displaying the highest variance. This suggests that older males may alternate more frequently between high-movement mate searching and lower-movement mate tending, potentially enhancing reproductive success. Similarly, 2-year-old males had larger daily ranges than both older and younger ages. Changepoint analysis of daily movement rates determined that the peak breeding season occurred between 23 October and 12 November, with little variation among ages and alternative metrics. Our findings indicate that male movement rates and ranges can reflect deer reproductive efforts and vary by age, which has important implications for reproductive success and disease transmission risk.
白尾鹿（以下简称鹿）在繁殖生态以及对狩猎压力的反应方面已得到广泛研究。然而，不同研究在界定繁殖季节（其持续时间和时间点）上存在差异，这使得人们不确定鹿繁殖生态的区域差异是源于生态因素还是方法上的不一致。本研究旨在明确繁殖高峰期的时间点以及在此期间雄性鹿的移动模式，特别是与狩猎季节相关的情况。了解年龄和狩猎季节时间如何影响移动和繁殖行为对野生动物管理者很重要，因为这些因素会影响狩猎成功率。本研究在威斯康星州西南部开展，使用了2017年至2020年10月15日至12月1日期间从188只佩戴GPS项圈的雄性鹿收集的数据。基于广义线性混合模型，2岁雄性鹿的每小时移动速度高于其他年龄组，而火器狩猎季节的首个周末对移动速度没有显著影响。相比之下，周岁鹿和成年鹿的日移动速度方差存在显著差异，3岁及以上雄性鹿的方差最高。这表明年龄较大的雄性鹿可能在高移动的寻找配偶和低移动的照料配偶之间更频繁地交替，这可能会提高繁殖成功率。同样，2岁雄性鹿的日活动范围比年龄较大和较小的鹿都要大。对日移动速度进行的变点分析确定，繁殖高峰期出现在10月23日至11月12日之间，各年龄组和其他指标之间差异不大。我们的研究结果表明，雄性鹿的移动速度和活动范围可以反映鹿的繁殖努力情况，并且因年龄而异，这对繁殖成功率和疾病传播风险具有重要意义。
