Vol. 23, No. 5 
Page 4 
Basically, the greater prairie chicken must be considered a winter-hardy 
native. They will burrow in snow to roost and eat the buds on trees when "the 
going gets tough" in winter. Severe winters that can cause heavy losses among 
such species as the bobwhite and ringneck are not a serious problem to prairie 
chickens in Illinois. 
Ecology and Management of White-tailed Deer - W-87-R C. M. Nixon, 
L. P. Hansen, 
J. E. Chelsvig 
Five female, white-tailed deer were captured 15 January I 98 O in Allerton 
Park, Piatt County, Illinois. One of the 5 was fitted with a radio transmitter 
collar and the others were marked with visual identification collars. The 3 
fawns and the adult wearing the transmitter have remained together since capture; 
the other adult has occasionally left the group and is currently separated from it. 
Radiotelemetry and visual observation were used to record the day and 
night locations of the radio-monitored animal to determine its daily range, and, 
coincidentally, the range of the 3 fawns. 
All known locations of the radio-monitored deer were plotted on enlarged 
aerial photos marked with a grid of squares, each representing approximately 1 
hectare. Lines connecting the outermost locations formed a polygon Which 
reasonably represents the daily range of this animal for 10 February through 
25 April. Locations far outside this major area were not included since the 
deer was found at them only once each. 
The area enclosed by the polygon is approximately 91 hectares (224 acres) 
with a major axis of 3,220 m (2 miles) oriented in a north-south direction. The 
area is 760 m (0.5 mile) at its widest point, 152 m ( 0.1 mile) at its narrowest, 
and has an average width of 330 m (0.2 mile). This long narrow shape is due to 
a winter wheat field which provides a travel lane from the south edge of the 
park to a timbered creek bed. 
Table 2 shows the breakdown of the different habitat types found within 
the home range of this animal. 
During the day, the radio-monitored deer was usually in one of the 
successional hardwoods habitats or in the bottomland hardwoods along the creek. 
At night she spent much time in corn stubble or wheat and often bedded in these 
fields for part of the night. By 21 April, when vegetation had sprouted in the 
timber, this deer--and other deer--were seldom seen in the wheat field. 
The radio-monitored deer was last known to be on her winter range 25 April. 
On 6 May she was located by aerial tracking in a 7-acre, oak-hickory woodlot 
3 miles north and 1 mile west of Atwood, Piatt County, Illinois. She had moved 
12 miles southeast of her winter range on the Sangamon River drainage to the 
Lake Fork of the Kaskaskia River drainage. 
We will continue to monitor this deer for any further dispersal-type 
movements. 
