Annual survival and site fidelity of free‐ranging white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus): comparative demography before (1983–1992) and after (1993–2005) spatial confinement

Survival and movement are important demographic variables influencing the dynamics of large herbivores with implications for management and evolution of life‐history strategies. Management practices such as spatial confinement and harvest regulation attempt to control survival and movement for the sustainability of harvested deer populations, but a paucity of long‐term data exists on these management practices. We examined annual survival and site fidelity of free‐ranging white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) over 10 years (1983–1992) to compare demographic parameters after spatial confinement (1993–2005). We used capture records (n = 174; 104 females, 70 males), marked deer recaptures (n = 42), and dead recoveries (n = 68) to estimate sex‐specific, age‐specific and time‐specific parameters. We found that annual female survival was 50% from 1983–1987 during a period of intense harvest, but increased to 93.7% after intense harvesting was eliminated. Prior to spatial confinement, annual survival of marked male deer averaged 36.7%–42.5%. After spatial confinement, annual survival increased on average for males (58%–99%) and females (77%–98%). Females showed high levels of site fidelity (>99%) prior to spatial confinement, whereas males showed much less site fidelity (≤4.5% for the 2 top‐ranking models). During spatial confinement, the semi‐impermeable fence effectively increased site fidelity of males (≥56%). These results stem from long‐term study (23 years) of a large herbivore experiencing changes to life‐history, resulting from changes in management that were applied to the population and aimed at altering population demographics, for sustainability of a harvestable population of deer.