The objective of this study was to determine the white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus population density as well as to characterize its habitat in four vegetation associations in a temperate forest of the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. We used the pellet count method and the point-centered quarter method along linear transects The average deer density in the period from June 1998 to Augustus 1999 was 1.13 ± 1.15 deer/km2. Deer density was not significantly different among the four vegetation associations (H = 2.737; P = 0.43). However, the higher values of density (1.73 deer/km2) were found in the vegetation associations Abies-Pinus y Quercus-Pinus, in which shrubs density, height, cover and volume of the same, as well as the ruggedness of the topography were significantly greater than in the associations Pinus-Quercus (0.34 venados/km2) and Pinus-Abies (0.71 venados/km2). The transects located in the vegetation association Abies-Pinus were characterized by a dense canopy, high plant diversity and short distance to a permanent water source (average 153 m). Comparing the habitat characteristics among the four vegetation associations, in the association Abies-Pinus y Quercus-Pinus the deer can find food availability and horizontal and vertical cover protection, besides a favorable topography to escape of predators. We suggest that different factors such as the forest productivity affected by the drought of 1998, the stress associated with hunting methods, and human activities adjacent to the forest, could have an additive effect on deer density.
