I know that Bankhead deer 20 years ago were still pretty sharply defined on when they rutted based on where the Michigan deer were released. I'd say that is a genetic influence from those Northern strain deer...
Again, perhaps. But just because when condition "A" changes, condition "B" also changes, that does not mean condition "A" controls condition "B." What I'm getting at is just because the Bankhead deer rut at the same times as Michigan deer, and the Bankhead area was stocked with Michigan deer, does not mean "Michigan genetics" are causing those breeding dates. It could be just a coincidence. Deer were stocked all across the Southeast from locations as widely ranging as WI, Mexico, and the Carolina coastal islands, even into areas that had no "local" deer left at all, yet in 90% of the cases, the deer in those areas now display no expressed traits (including breeding dates) of the deer from which they were stocked.
To be honest, AL is a real enigma when it comes to genetics and breeding dates. If the theory that localized breeding dates today are a remnant of where the deer were restocked from, we would expect to see a particular pattern develop. And that patterns is perfectly exemplified across AL, with a hodge-podge of unique and very unusual breeding dates scattered all over the state. However, if the theory that localized conditions is driving best (but different) breeding dates through Natural Selection, we would see a very different pattern--one of smooth transitions in changing breeding dates across geographic distance. And that is EXACTLY what is seen in all other areas of the Southeast where deer were stocked from an incredibly wide range of genetic stockings, with very different breeding dates. In essence, the breeding dates of the restocked deer have been washed out through Natural Selection, and now breeding dates are driven by what factors produce the highest fawn survival rates locally, despite where the original deer of the area were restocked from.
So why do most Southeast states display exactly what would be expected if Natural Selection is the driving force in breeding dates, yet AL alone displays the patterns that would be expected of restocking driving breeding dates? I doubt the Laws of Nature stop at the AL line (although you never know!
) I
strongly suspect what is seen in AL breeding dates is purely coincidence.
