Activity and Movements of Female White-Tailed Deer during the Rut

We monitored activity, mobility, and home ranges of female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center (CRC), Front Royal, Virginia during the 1983 breeding season to determine how they contributed to the formation of tending bonds. Females continuously decreased their rates of activity (P = 0.02) and mobility (P = 0.02) from prerut until postrut. Females did not increase their activity or mobility rates while tending bonds were formed. Home-range sizes ranged from 0.068 km2during the middle of the rut to 0.276 km2at the end of the rut. Shortly before females were tended by males, they spent more time in the core areas of their home ranges than expected from their normal movement patterns (P = 0.001).