Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Demarais, Steve

Committee Member

Strickland, Bronson

Committee Member

Gee, Ken

Date of Degree

8-7-2010

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract

Objective and accurate techniques are needed to estimate age and antler size of live white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), because these parameters are essential to many white-tailed deer management strategies. I developed and evaluated accuracy of methods for estimating age and antler size from photographs of live, male white-tailed deer using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I estimated size of photographed, known-score mounted antlers accurately using a fixed-scale object and photographed, live deer using anatomical features. I determined if a series of morphometric ratios could be used to predict age of deer from photographs using a dichotomous key procedure. Mean percentage error for gross antler score was < 6% using a single photograph at 0° or 45°. The dichotomous key procedure effectively separated age classes of photographed, live white-tailed deer. When grouping deer into 1, 2, 3, 4, or ≥ 5 year age classes, the methodology respectively.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15391

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