Article

Deer Monitoring at Arkansas Post National Memorial in Arkansas, 2024

White-tailed Deer

Deer are one of the more charismatic creatures you can find at Arkansas Post National Memorial. It's hard to imagine that white-tailed deer were almost extinct in the early 1900s from overhunting and clearing of forests. Hunting regulations and removal of most of their natural predators has now led to unprecedented deer population growth. Without natural predators, deer can become overpopulated and die of disease and starvation. Scientists from the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network monitor deer at Arkansas Post National Memorial to better understand how their populations may be changing over time.

Four deer standing in a grassy area covered in dried leaves next to a forest in late fall. — White-tailed deer at Arkansas Post National Memorial.
NPS

Why Do We Monitor Deer?

To maintain and restore cultural landscapes that resemble the historical character of the park, managers at Arkansas Post National Memorial work to restore oak forests and remove non-native, invasive plant species. Deer love to browse tree saplings and other native vegetation. When the deer population gets too large, overbrowsing of native plant species can impact restoration efforts and promote non-native, invasive plants. Deer also disperse ticks that can spread diseases to other animals and humans, and it becomes more difficult to manage these diseases when there are too many deer. Increasing deer-vehicle collisions are another risk when deer populations are high. Deer monitoring information helps park staff make informed management decisions that protect deer, other park wildlife, park habitats, and people.

How Do We Monitor Deer?

We began monitoring deer at Arkansas Post National Memorial in 2005 to determine yearly changes and long-term trends in their populations and to map their locations. Each year in winter, we use bright spotlights at night to count deer along the two main tour roads in the park. We conduct these surveys between January and mid-March.

A single deer looking at the camera on hte edge of a forest. — White-tailed deer
NPS

Monitoring Highlights
(2005–2024)

We have observed declines and recoveries of deer populations over the course of our monitoring at the park. There was a seven-fold increase in deer between 2007 and 2011 following a two-year decline due to a disease outbreak. The deer population then declined until 2017 when it began to recover and increased three-fold by 2019. The number of deer ranged from an average of 17 per square kilometer in 2007 to an average of 119 per square kilometer in 2011.

Deer populations can vary quite significantly from year to year. While disease, starvation, and other factors can cause a population to decline rapidly, deer have high reproductive potential and can recover from these declines relatively quickly. We will continue to monitor deer in the park to help the park manage deer and to better understand the factors affecting deer populations.

Map showing that deer were found at 5 locations scattered across the survey routes. — A map showing the approximate area that was visible (dark blue area) from the deer survey vehicle in 2024 at Arkansas Post National Memorial. Dots represent the places where deer were observed on one of the surveys.
NPS

Close up of three deer looking at the camera through small tree trunks and undergrowth in a forest. — White-tailed deer
NPS

Did You Know?

Allowing deer populations to increase until disease sets in is harmful to deer, other animals, and people. Diseases such as hemorrhagic disease and chronic wasting disease occur when there are too many deer. Hemorrhagic disease can result in the loss of 50% or more of a deer population each year and it can persist for several years. One form of this disease is not known to infect people or domestic livestock, but the other form can cause domestic sheep to develop severe illness and die. Deer can also serve as a host for ticks. As they move from one area to another, they disperse ticks infected with Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and ehrlichiosis that can harm people and domestic animals. Keeping deer populations under control protects deer, as well as people and other animals.