ABSTRACT
It easily can be said that the white-tailed deer is the most important species of wildlife in the midwestern United States. Approximately 10 million white-tailed deer inhabit the Midwest, which is more than any other region in North America. Further, many of the most impressive whitetails have come from the Midwest (Figure 17.1). Dramatic changes have occurred on the landscape since European settlement that inuenced populations of white-tailed deer in this region. Timber harvest in the north and east and agricultural tillage and residential development throughout the region have had both positive and negative impacts on deer numbers. White-tailed deer were over-harvested through unregulated subsistence and market hunting in the 1800s and were nearly extirpated from many areas in the Midwest (Gladfelter, 1984; Menzel, 1984). Populations rebounded over time, however, to current record highs, due to an interested
Climatic and Geographic Description of the Region ............................................................................. 503 Northern Plains Subregion ................................................................................................................ 503 Midwest Agricultural Subregion ....................................................................................................... 504 Northern Forests/Great Lakes Subregion .......................................................................................... 505 Midwestern Oak and Hickory Forest Subregion .............................................................................. 505 Central and Southern Plains Subregion ........................................................................................... 506
Deer Impacts in the Midwest ................................................................................................................. 506 Landscape Inuences ............................................................................................................................. 509
Landscape ......................................................................................................................................... 509 Climate and Land-Use ...................................................................................................................... 509 Ecological Succession ........................................................................................................................510 Timber Harvest ..................................................................................................................................510 Agricultural Expansion ......................................................................................................................510 Development ......................................................................................................................................512 Human Demographics .......................................................................................................................512 Refugia ...............................................................................................................................................513 Predators ............................................................................................................................................513 Disease ...............................................................................................................................................514
