Biology And Management Of White-tailed Deer In Alabama

TAXONOMY
The white-tailed deer is one of 37 species in the family Cervidae
and shares the genus Odocoileus with only one other species, the mule
deer and black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus; Baker 1984). Approximately
38 subspecies of white-tailed deer have been described in North,
Central, and South America.
Thirty of these subspecies are
found in North and Central
America alone (Baker 1984).
Historically in Alabama,
the predominant
subspecies of whitetail was
the Virginia subspecies (O. v.
virginianus), with the subspecies
O. v. osceola
inhabiting the extreme
southern edge of the state.
Following the near extirpation of whitetails from the state in the early
1900s, the Alabama Department of Conservation, along with some private
individuals and groups, began restocking deer throughout the state
in the 1930s. Most restocking occurred during the 1950s and 60s. The
majority of deer restocked in Alabama were from sources within the
state and is assumed to have been O. v. virginianus. Deer from several
other states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina,
Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin, were used to a much lesser degree in restocking
of several areas around Alabama (McDonald and Miller 1993).
Those restockings included deer from as many as six different subspe-
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