;V                                                                   NW.!
Atas ;e-; :,   W                        -r   v     D   s                
                               DEER WEIGHTS                             81




LA~                                                                     
                                   110-






                                                                        
                                             IO                   *   GoME
           S      ood   range



                                                                        
                                  90-                                   
      Chambers     Island




                                                              - -~ ~ ~  
 ~   ~   ~   ~~~~~~~



        Part of the deer removed from Chambers Island by a special hunt in
October,              ,    70-
        1945. These deer averaged much smaller in size than mainland deer
bCcausC                0%
                           of poor range conditions on the island.      
                          0


             The wveight differences found between all areas of good and
poor range                        60-
        lcad us to conclude that rangc conditions as inmlicate.d hv ivailable
wviniter
        food have a direct relationship to the plhvsiological condition of
the deer
        herd. In general, areas with poorest \%iiter food s\%ill prodice
the smallest
        deer.
             Figure 11 (ompares statewi(le weights with weights of (imambers
Island                        50
         (leer. Chambers Island has an area of about 3,000 acre.s and lies
four miles
         off the shores of Door county in Creen 13ayt. Thie islandl hIs long
l)een over-
         browsed by the dleer herd occupyinig it and in 1945 it represented
;imi ex-
         treme stage of range degencration in Wisconsiu. A state-conducted
hunt                            40
         on the island in October of 1945 enabled us to obtain (lressed weights
          I                40
         for the 250 deer removed during the ]utit. '1 le wseights obtained
at that                                 Bucks         Does    J   Buck  
       Doe
         fime are equal to or lower than those found elsewhere in the state.
They                                                            Fawns   
    Fawns
         indicate that cont inue(l degeneration of Wisconsinml deer range
wvill result
         in continued physical degeneratioli of the deer herd.          
                            Figure 11. Average dressed deer weights from
good range, poor range, and
             The literature (en similar stuidies iii othler stastes is limitedl.
Scliuuk~ze      Chambers Island. Chambers Island bucks are mostly adult bucks;
other areas
                                          The literature (Via Similar studies
in other states is limited.  Schunkeare mostly yearlings.
         and Buiss (1941) showed a progressive decrease in the weight of
1 08
         Wisconsin bucks taken during the period 1936 to 1940. Buss and Buss

         80