WHITE-TAILED DEER FORAGING IN RELATION TO SUCCESSIONAL STAGE, OVERSTORY TYPE AND MANAGEMENT OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN FORESTS

Year-round foraging of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on t he national forests of the Southern Appalachian mountains in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee was determined by analysis of rumen sampl es from 581 deer taken over 5 years and by sampling forage availabilit y and evidence of browsing in selected habitat types. Spring and summe r diets consisted mainly of green leaves and succulent twig tips of de ciduous woody plants (58% in spring, 54% in summer). These forages wer e more abundant and used more intensively by deer in and around clearc uts than in adjacent older forests. Most other important foods in thes e seasons (i.e., fruits, forbs and fungi) also were much more abundant in the clearcuts. Flowers of yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), which dominated the diet in late May and early June, and squawroot (C onopholis americana), a parasitic herb associated with red oaks (Querc us spp.) and an important secondary food throughout most of the spring and summer, were more available in older forests. Fall and winter die ts were influenced greatly by the availability of mast, especially aco rns. When mast was abundant, it dominated the diet. When mast was scar ce, deer fed mainly on the leaves of broadleaf evergreen woody plants, especially rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum). Twig ends wer e used little by deer during fall and winter. Older forests generally provided best foraging conditions for deer in fall and winter, being t he primary Source of mast and also producing about the same quantity o f broadleaf evergreen foliage as clearcuts. Clearcuts and older forest s provide complementary benefits to deer. Forests of intermediate age (after crown closure reduces browse availability and before onset of s ignificant mast production) contribute much less to the deer forage re source than either clearcuts or older forests. Specific contributions of different forest age classes to the forage base vary with site char acteristics. Implications of changing forest management policy are dis cussed.