White-tailed deer monitoring at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Missouri: 2005–2018 trend report

Peitz, David; Haack-Gaynor, Jennifer; Morrison, Lloyd; Debacker, Mike

During 14 years (2005 – 2018) of white-tailed deer monitoring within a defined survey area of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, we observed both a rapid decline and recovery. The rapid die-off was the result of a region-wide hemorrhagic disease outbreak reported by the Missouri Department of Conservation that started in the fall of 2005, six months after deer monitoring on the park was initiated. Even including data in the analysis from years when the die-off was occurring (2006 and 2007), the number of deer still increased on average 10.5% annually. Deer counts in the survey area ranged from a low of 14.9 + 10.1 (mean + 95% CI) individuals/km2 in 2007 to a high of 167.2 + 57.4 individuals/km2 in 2016. The amount of visible area surveyed each year varied between 0.6 and 1.1 km2 (coefficient of variation = 14.1%). Annual deer harvest data in the area nearby Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield exhibit similar trends to our annual adjusted counts. This suggests that factors other than hunting are driving annual changes in the size of deer populations. An increasing number of deer poses several problems for the park. First, this trend will add a level of complexity to implementing Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Cultural Landscape Report recommendations. Deer deferentially browse native vegetation over exotic vegetation, thus promoting the spread of exotic species. The success of tree planting can be curtailed by heavy deer browsing as well. Second, controlling deer related disease, some of which can affect domestic livestock and human health in and around the park, becomes more and more difficult as the number of deer increases. Third, as additional ancillary data suggest, the largely unreported and costly deer-vehicle collisions in and around the park have the potential to rise with an increasing deer population.

White-tailed deer monitoring at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Missouri: 2005–2018 trend report

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