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Louisiana:

White-tailed deer focus of LSU AgCenter wildlife field day

By Johnny Morgan

LSU AgCenter

CLINTON, LA (May 15, 2008) – Improving the white-tailed deer population in Louisiana was the focus of a field day recently at the LSU AgCenter’s Bob R. Jones-Idlewild Research Station near Clinton.

Dr. Dearl Sanders, resident coordinator at the station, said the field day was an opportunity for those interested in the management of white-tailed deer to see the latest research being conducted at the station.

“We had about 125 people attend the event this year, which is just another sign of the interest in the topics being covered,” Sanders said.

 He said the April 26 field day was designed to help those interested in improving management of their wildlife food plots.

“The fact is, the LSU AgCenter is heavily involved in variety development, and now we’re actually developing crops for food plots, which is something new for the AgCenter,” Sanders said.

Sanders announced the Wildlife Research Institute, which will soon open at the station, will add a new dimension to the research being done there.

“We just got a $600,000 grant from the Pennington Foundation that will be matched with $400,000 from the Board of Regents,” Sanders said. “This will provide the first wildlife research chair that will be housed here at the station.”

A national search soon will begin to find a nationally renowned wildlife researcher to do applied work, Sanders said.

The first thing this person will start working on is deer diseases, he said, pointing out that epizootic hemorrhagic disease is one of the major problems facing deer in Louisiana.

“This disease is a major problem in deer,” Sanders said. “They will actually bleed out and die in a just matter of days.” 

Other features of the field day included an evaluation of various clover and oat planting trials at the station.

In addition, Ed Williams, a safety specialist with Bass Pro Shop, discussed tree stand safety.

Williams demonstrated the proper use of tree stands and said he would like to see safety harnesses mandatory with tree stands, like seatbelts are in a car. He said hunters suffer multiple injuries each year because of improper tree stand use.

Other features of the field day were an update on the South Louisiana white-tailed deer radio telemetry study and a presentation on white-tailed deer breeding dates and herd health.

The telemetry study is examining deer movements and survival – with the goal of improving deer management plans. More than 30 deer are being monitored using tracking collars that allow researchers to determine locations of each. 

The field day was cosponsored by the LSU AgCenter, the Quality Deer Management Association’s South Louisiana Branch and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.