"The white-tailed deer is New York's most important big game animal, so it is inevitable that it would be the subject of much concern and study by sportsman, game officials and biologists. The management of this magnificent animal has been a controversial subject for many years.

Legendary deer biologist C.W. "Bill" Severinghaus works with a student while studying whitetail behavior in New York. Photo by Charles J. Alsheimer.

"Almost every community has its individuals or groups that are vitally interested, in one way or another, in any legislative or management measure that affects the local deer population. Each group is a strong champion of its own interests and convictions with a desire to create a simple panacea that will solve the problem, even though the solution must be acceptable on a statewide basis."

These words were penned in The History of the White-tailed Deer in New York, published in 1956 by C.W. Severinghaus and C.P. Brown, game research investigators for the New York State Conservation Department.

A WHITETAIL PIONEER
That work was a phenomenal piece of research, the first of its kind, covering the abundance and distribution of white-tailed deer from pre-Colonial times. Using graphs, maps and charts created long before computers became available, the booklet explains deer management in New York State from the first statewide law in 1788 (which established a closed season from January to July) to the first doe seasons in 1954.

During a career that spanned four decades, C.W. "Bill" Severinghaus became one of the most prolific and productive whitetail research biologists, whose work has been referenced in every major white-tailed deer book and publication. An internationally recognized authority on the biology, life history, management and population dynamics of whitetails, he conducted research throughout the U.S. and Canada, authored over 160 scientific papers and eventually became known as "Mr. Deer."

THE BIOLOGY OF DEER
In 1949, determining the age of white-tailed deer through tooth development, wear and replacement, became the biologist's most notable research. After examining some 18,000 deer, Severinghaus and fellow researcher Jack Tanck worked up a system that is still the standard for estimating a deer's age. (Continued)

Though more accurate methods are in use today, the Severinghaus-Tanck method is still the only one that the average layman can use in the field.

Severinghaus conducted a lot of research in the Adirondack Mountains, in particularly the 50,000-acre wilderness called the Moose River Plains. In his study of trails and runways, he observed that deer trails used during the 1890s in the "Plains" area along the South Branch Moose River in New York were still heavily used during the winter of 1951.

These winter trails provided Severinghaus with an index for malnutrition. He used trail counts versus tracks in winter for determining the foraging ability of deer.

"When individual deer tracks outnumber deer trails and group tracks, deer are foraging enough to maintain their physical condition," he concluded. "Conversely, when deer trails and group tracks equal or outnumber individual deer tracks, their foraging range has become so restricted that they are unable to secure adequate nourishment." His trail index is still used today in whitetail winter yarding areas everywhere.

Some of Severinghaus' New York State deer biological research determined the mobility of whitetails, showing that deer can jump up to 7.5 feet high and leap 29 feet horizontally. He found the ratio of antlered does to antlered bucks to be one in 2,500 to 2,700, along with the hair depth of the winter coat of white-tailed deer; the variations of fertility of whitetails relative to range conditions; the number of calories they expend at rest and under stress; the annual weight cycle and the weight of deer in relation to range; ways to minimize deer damage to forest vegetation through aggressive deer population management; and relationships of weather to winter mortality and population levels among deer in New York's Adirondack region.