Effects of Permanent Water on Home Ranges and Movements of Adult Male White-Tailed Deer in Southern Texas (Report‪)‬

Water distribution may have a large impact on ungulates in arid environments if water is scarce. If water distribution is poor, then ungulates may have large home range sizes, or be concentrated near water sources. Because establishing water sources can be expensive (Bone et al. 1992; Broyles 1998; Gunn 1988; Mouton & Lee 1992), it is important to determine the minimum number of watering sources necessary to support animals in an area, so that resources are not wasted establishing water sources. There are many proponents and critics of wildlife water developments. Proponents of water developments site scarcity of free-standing water as a limiting factor of wildlife populations in arid environments (Roberts 1977). Critics, on the other hand, suggest that addition of new water sources may not return expected benefits (Broyles 1995; Brown 1998). If new water supplies are to yield expected benefits then water must be limiting to begin with, new sources must be distributed adequately in usable habitat, and they must be sources that wildlife are willing to use. The placement of concrete troughs near roads and human disturbances and the influence of cattle may reduce their usefulness to deer and other wildlife species. Prasad & Guthery (1986) found that deer did not use concrete troughs due to higher human and cattle activity. Ponds are often built on ephemeral drainages, which often contain deeper soils and an abundance of vegetation, resulting in higher levels of screening cover. Therefore, deer may water at ponds instead of concrete troughs due to less human influence and their larger size.