Deer Management for Forest Landowners and Managers

One of the biggest management problems for forest landowners and managers is browsing by overabundant deer herds that simplifies habitat and reduces species composition and abundance of plant and wildlife communities.

This book addresses deer biology, management of deer, and deer impact on private and public forestlands. It integrates information on deer biology and human dimensions aspects including culture, values, politics, and financial and human resources, into development and implementation of comprehensive management of people and deer.

Additional audiences are wildlife educators, deer hunters, and administrators of natural resource agencies who affect deer density and impact on forest resources by regulating deer hunting.

The book is written by wildlife and forestry scientists, consultants, managers, and educators with over 350 years of collective experience in managing deer impacts on forest resources. It includes nine case histories of deer management on forestlands ranging from small woodlots to large commercial operations and state/national forests.

Praise for Deer Management for Forest Landowners and Managers:

"If you're a forest landowner serious about managing your deer and woods this book is for you."

Kip Adams, Quality Deer Management Association

"This book is an extensive resource for deer and timber management and is a hands-on manual that includes extensive review of relevant literature.

David Samuel, Bowhunter Magazine

"This book provides definitive answers to the questions of how to accomplish deer management in ... the face of large deer populations. It belongs on the reading list of every forest landowner."

William F. Porter Boone and Crockett Professor of Wildlife

"It captures the wealth of knowledge of the authors who understand deer as hunters, ecologists, managers and scientists. It provides a leap forward in the who and how of deer and forest management."

Peter Smallidge, Extension Forester

"This is a must read for landowners, deer and forest managers, and those studying forest ecology."

Merlin Benner, wildlife consultant

"This book is a road map to restoring deer to their long-time place of balance, serving the common good for people and nature."

Allen Pursell, The Nature Conservancy

David S. deCalesta received a BA in psychology from Dartmouth College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in wildlife ecology from Colorado State University. He began a life-long study of deer with a Ph.D. thesis on mule deer nutrition and physiology in 1970. Much of his work as Extension Wildlife Specialist and university teacher and researcher in Zoology (North Carolina State University) and Wildlife Ecology and Forest Science (Oregon State University) focused on deer (mule, black-tailed, and white-tailed) interactions with forest vegetation and wildlife communities. His work as a research wildlife biologist with the USDA Forest Service featured interactions between white-tailed deer and forest plant and animal communities. He spent the last third of his career as a wildlife consultant and forest certification specialist (Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Forestry Initiative), primarily working with deer-forest interactions on forest ownerships ranging from dozens to thousands of ha on private and public forestlands, including state parks and forests and National Forests. With Timothy Pierson, he coordinated the activities of the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative, which demonstrated how public hunting could be managed to reduce deer density and impact to levels enhancing diversity and sustainability of forest products and wildlife and vegetative communities.

Michael C. Eckley received a B.S. in Forest Resources Management with a minor in Communications from West Virginia University and an M.S. in Forestry at the University of Maine-Orono. His career has centered on eastern hardwood forest management and assisting private land ownerships throughout the eastern United States. Much of his time is devoted to outreach and education along with specialization in assessing forest conditions, planning, and promoting responsible forestry practices. Mike is a Society of American Foresters (SAF) Certified Forester and is currently employed by The Nature Conservancy, serving as their Forestry Manager for the Working Woodlands Program (www.nature.org/workingwoodlands).