White-tailed deer, it seems, are homebodies.

That is the upshot of an intensive study of the traveling behaviors of 173 radio-collared white-tailed deer in south central Wisconsin. The new results, which surprised researchers by revealing how little deer move about the landscape, are important because they may help researchers and wildlife managers better understand how chronic wasting disease (CWD) spreads.

"They are using small home ranges and not traveling long distances," says Nancy Mathews, a wildlife biologist at UW-Madison's Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. "The only dispersers are young males, and they only go five to seven miles before setting up a new home range." 

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