Wildlife Management terms - B
Bag Limit: number of animals of a particular species allowed to be taken in a 24-hour period (midnight to midnight) unless otherwise specified
Baiting: direct or indirect placing, exposing, depositing, distributing or scattering of salt, grain or other feed that could lure or attract wildlife to, on, or over any areas where hunters attempt to take them
Barbed broadhead: point or portion of a blade projecting backward from a broadhead arrow point designed to hold an arrow within an animal
Barred Owl: large brown bird, marked by bars across the chest and head and lengthwise along the tail, saw-toothed leading edges on its primary (flight) feathers which allows it to fly soundlessly, puffy-headed wood owl. One of only two kinds of owls with large brown eyes
Basal area: way to estimate competition of large trees with ground cover plant communities. Communities with plants that are denser, higher-quality ground cover will be supported at lower basal areas due to increased sunlight reaching the ground
Bass: bluish gray fish with a spiny dorsal fin separated from the soft dorsal fin by a deep notch. Bass are predators that feed on other smaller fresh-water fish and amphibians
Bachelor Group: group of mid-to-older aged white-tailed deer that travel together as a group during summer and early fall before breaking up and becoming antagonistic to each other when testosterone levels rise and breeding approaches in October and November
Bawl: sound made by a injured or scared deer. Similar to a yell or shriek that a humans make
Beam: main branch of a antler that tines grow on a white tail deer, also known as the main beam
Bed: place were wildlife rests or sleeps. It is usually indicated by grass leaves and dirt compressed on the ground
Bedding Area: area where deer often rest, found close to feeding areas, and often surrounded by thick cover but allow the deer to see and hear approaching danger
Benthic: living in or on the bottom of a body of water
Bergman’s rule: among forms of a particular species, body size tends to be larger in the cooler regions of its range and smaller in the warmer regions
Best Management Practices (BMPs): practices selected as effective and practical means to achieve an objective, given available resources
Biodiversity: includes genetic variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and ecosystems species, species diversity within a community, and diversity in a full range of biological communities
Biogeography: study of the geographical distributions of organisms, their habitats and the historical and biological factors which produced them
Biological diversity: variety of life forms in a given area. Diversity can be categorized in terms of the number of species, the variety in the types of plant and animal species, the genetic variability of the animals, or a combination of these elements.
Biological disturbance: discrete or ongoing event in which the proliferation of a plant, animal, or disease organism profoundly alters the functioning of a natural community; may also refer to the effects of herbivory on vegetation
Biting midges: tiny flies that can transmit the epizootic hemorrhagic disease and bluetongue viruses. Members of the genus Culicoides
Black bear: American black bear (Ursus americanus), four legged, omnivorous mammal with black or brown colored fur, massive bodies, and short tails, plantigrade feet (sole/heel walker), and claws capable of climbing trees. They feed largely on fruit, plant matter, insects and animals
Blaze orange: bright fluorescent color worn during deer so the hunter is visible by others in the woods for safety reasons
Bleat: sound made by does and fawns to keep in contact or as a call for help. Does bleat in social situations, as a contact call with fawns, to express distress or occasionally to let a buck know the doe's location
Blind: small enclosure, either manufactured or made from natural materials, that hide a hunter on the ground while hunting
Bluetongue virus (BTV): vector-borne viral disease that affects wild and domestic ruminants. Infection with BTV is unapparent in most animals, but can cause fatal disease in some infected sheep, deer and wild ruminants
Boar: male pig of any age with intact testicles
Bobcat: carnivorous mammal, four legged, nocturnal predator with a tawny colored black-spotted coat, and a short tail. Requires a twenty square mile range to find enough food
Bog: soggy, moist, spongy, or otherwise wet areas with peat soils; the partially or incompletely decomposed remains of dead plants and some animals. A type of peatland
Boone & Crockett Club: group that created a standardized way to score deer racks and maintains a list or record book of big game records
Brackish: referring to habitats which have salinity less than a normal marine environment; salinity usually less than two percent
Brackish water: habitat where the fresh water and the salt water meet, thus diluting the salt water and adding salt to the fresh water suitable for mangrove trees. This is a nursery zone of high animal productivity
Brood: offspring of a bird just hatched
Brood cover: low vegetation such as grasses or forbs that afford protection for ground nesters to raise their young
Brooding: act of caring for young
Browse: palatable twigs, shoots, leaves and buds of woody plants. The term often is used to describe a category of deer foods
Browsing: ruminants, such as deer, eat by quickly moving through the woods and chewing plants just enough to swallow them. These animals then move to a safe area and proceeds to chew the cud for further digestion
Browtine: first fork of the antler on a deer
Buck: male deer of any age that, once mature, produce antlers every year and then lose them after the mating season or rut
Buck of Choice: buck that may be legally harvested with no regard to antler restrictions
Buffer strip: small area of permanent vegetation designed to mitigate the effects of run-off containing pollutants, nutrients, and sediment while fostering a biodiverse natural community. They are installed near waterways (riparian buffers) and also by agricultural fields where run-off of pesticides and other nutrients can be an issue
Bull Elk- male elk. Elk are a close relative to the whitetail deer although much large in size
Bunchgrasses: a perennial grass that grows in clumps in meadows, grasslands, wetlands, and forests
Buoyant: object able to float or rise in a liquid
Buteo: any of the various hawks of the genus Buteo, characterized by broad wings and broad, rounded tails
Button Buck: male fawn with small antler nubbins barely visible on its forehead, 6-8 months old
By-catch: the portion of a fishing catch that is discarded as unwanted or commercially unusable