During the course of the project, only 146 whitetails were ob- 

 lt7tt "^""""l ." presents the distribution of these observations 



and the general limits of whitetails. They are found along the 

 and^'n';^h r°"^' ^' ''^ Missouri River from Fort Benton to Loma 

 WM^-"^ ^ lower Teton and Marias River bottoms in the study area 



the loothillfo? ^h T^ "'^"^ '^" Highwood Creek bottom and xn 

 the foothills of the Highwood and Bearpaw mountains. 



ciated^Si?rih°^^^''''^^'°" °^ habitat use shows this species asso- 

 ciated with the riparian river bottoms of Cottonwood, willow, 

 find wh?;;.!?? agricultural vegetation types. Winter observations 

 find whitetails up on the grassland-sagebrush types on sidehills 

 Ti.ll^ll^ °' '^^ "'"^" ^^^^'^"- °"^i"5 periods "^of deep snow 



with^ I Z^^^^'' ^K ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ bottoms and winte? along 

 with mule deer in these areas. ^ 



Population Characteristics 



The white-tailed deer population showed a higher rate of 



ar^f ''spriL'5:9^r h'"" ^''''''l ^'^^ ^^^ "^^^^ ^'^ in the°ftudy 

 does'(2fdee?) in 19?7?h'°"?-'°^"^ ^ "^^^° °' ''■' f^wns/lOO 

 w?! on 5 ^ ;. ^^^^ ^"^^^ figure was 114 fawns/100 does, 1978 

 was 90 fawns/100 does, and 1979 figures show 75 fawns/100 does 



Whitetails have composed a small segment of the total deer 



cenrnfVh °H ^^^^^^f ''^ ' ^hey comprised approximateiri3 per- 

 cent of the harvest from 1975 through 1977 and 7 percent of the 

 harvest m district 471 (Table 5). At the 1979 Fort Benton check 

 26 deer' white-tailed deer was taken out of a tota! of 



Eastern Segment 



White-tailed deer are a minor component of the study area's 

 tauna, and few observations were obtained during the entire studv 

 Primary concentrations of the whitetails in the study area are "^^ 

 found along the Missouri River from the Robinson Bridge upstream 

 for about 6 miles and along the Judith River. Only an occasional 

 sighting was made elsewhere. Along the rivers, whitetails are 

 primarily found in the riverbottom habitat; however, some use is 

 made of nearby rough, timbered breaks habitat. Th4 riverbottom 

 vegetation type, which consists of large stands of willoSs and 

 cottonwoods, numerous brush species, hay fields and a large variety 

 of other riparian vegetation species, provides good habiSt lor 



wh?t^ ^^^^H r^ ^^';^^^ ^"^' ^°°^ ^^^it^ ^"^ proluctivity of the 

 Tigely "^ ^^^ Missouri River was studied by Alien 



Not enough whitetails were observed within the studv ;,.«. 



TableSf \"'P°" ^""'°' ^° determine productivity (Appendix 

 Table 2); however, winter classification of 175 whitetails was 



28 



