Transplant Mule Deer

R

rperkins

Guest
Is their any reason why DWR can't transplant problem deer in Units that need deer, instead of just shooting them ? They can transplant Moose, Sheep, why not Deer ?
 
Lots of reasons why they can't or don't but...

Transplant implies putting them somewhere where they have not been or completely new to the area. Many of the islands are good examples of transplanting deer that did do quite well. Why they did so well and why translocated deer do not is the big question.

Translocaiton is the word/phrase you are thinking of.

Research has show that translocated mule deer don't do too well without a bunch of prep work (predation removal water, food etc) to make sure these things are in place. For the most part you have high mortality and or many of the deer will try and leave the area. They just get way too stressed out. They just are not that adaptable to their new surroundings for what ever reason. Deer are pretty clickish as well, they tend not to do well with social groups that are not their kin. Kind of like if we took you out and just dumped you out in down town Atlanta--you would have a hard time adapting to your environment.

Certainly it is something that could be done. Moving deer from residential areas like bountiful rather than killing them is an option but likely the same results--a dead deer.


Todd Black

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To costly...Would be my guess?


Government doesn't fix anything and has spent trillions proving it!!!
Let's face it...After Monday and Tuesday, even the calender says WTF!
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-23-12 AT 11:34AM (MST)[p]It all comes down to money!

How much is a mule deer worth?
How much is a big horn sheep worth?

to me it looks like quite a few of the big horn sheep end up dying after the transplant just like the mule deer might. But there not transplanting sheep into already existing sheep herds.

So Im only assuming it is less expensive to manage the local population of deer so the herd grows then to transplant deer into a local existing population.



avatar_2528.jpg
 
The excuse I've heard is disease. They told me that you can't move neighborhood deer yet the deer can just come and go as they please. If they come and go on their own then they don't spread disease but if you move them it will wipe out something something something????HUH?

Makes no sense to me.
 
I am sure it would cost money to move these deer around, but not as much as you would think. I would take my truck and horse trailer up to bountiful and take a load of deer to a struggling area (especially if it was where I like to hunt). I am sure dedicated hunter hours could be given to do this. All you would really need would be to have a dwr guy or 2 at the trap site, and maybe one at the release site.

They transplanted deer out of an area when I was younger, and put radio collars on these deer. Yes, a couple left the area, but we saw many of these deer for years. I am sure some would die, but some would live also. If nothing else, maybe the predators would eat them and save a few that were already living there.
 
Seems like it would be worth a try. Instead of shooting them, lets at least give it a chance to work. Seems like DWR only method is to shoot deer they don't want at a time when they may be able to be relocated and help the deer herd. Another good dedicated hunter project that I think we would all conclude would be worth the time and effort
 
todd, I understand these are not "your" excuses. But since you brought them up... Who cares if the deer do not do well socially there. right now they are doing us no good in places like bountiful If they catch a bunch of them and move them to a new area and they die, so what? just something for the coyotes to eat without having to kill a local deer. Or chances are that the transplanted ones would be the ones eaten by predators. The only other arguments are money, and disease. The SFW should have no problem donating the money from their tags right? after all they are in it for the deer.. right? And disease, well youll have a hard time convincing me that deer in bountiful carry diseases that will kill out your cashe valley herd. But since there are no deer in cashe valley they wont kill them... right?
 
Tim--

No disagreement here. A dead deer is a dead deer in bountiful or the west desert. As others have pointed out it really comes down too is money. Is it the best use of public dollars? This is a question for UDWR and legislative folks and i suspect they could be swayed by public pressure.

Todd Black

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I agree it's about money!

All the other BS is just that!

Take a deer and put him on an island that he was NEVER native to and he thrives! Put him in an area his species is native to and he won't make it? BULLCHIT!!!!

I don't even FULLY believe it is not worth the cost but I do think the wildlife agencies think it is NOT WORTH IT!

Bill

Kill the buck that makes YOU happy!
 
Didn't Utah send a bunch of deer that were likely to die one hard winter in the 70s down to south western Arizona?

It would be nice to do just for the genetics. Say a couple of dozen Sonora Desert does mixed in to a week horned herd just to see what happens.
 
Todd, what are we paying the DWR to do, sit in the office on a soft chair or get out and help save the deer. If the work is donated and the trucks and trailer are donated and if SFW, just maybe donate a little gas money, why not try it ???
 
Because it might work!

Then before you know it they will be asked to do more and more of it and eventually (see once a few volunteers have good enough hunting in their spot) the volunteer work and the donations will run out and the wildlife agency won't have the BULLCHIT excuse that it doesn't work.

Bill

Kill the buck that makes YOU happy!
 
Let's say the UDWR does a transplant project, say take 100 deer from the Bountiful area as somebody suggested. Let's say the logistics of actually finding a safe way to do it was figured out. They had plenty of volunteers,who had gone through some kind of orientation to learn how NOT to kill the critters during the operation, to help-although there would still need to be biologists to oversee the project and complete the more technical issues-and all those volunteers signed release forms for one thing or another so that everything was up to snuff. Pickups, horse trailers and flatbeds were all loaded up with tranqued deer and hauled off to some predetermined location that was close enough for the deer to remain under and safe.

The location had ample food/habitat/water for the criters. How would we be able to tell if the transplant was a success so that it could be repeated in other areas? Radio/gps collars? And how long would it take to find out if it was worth the effort? 1 year? Two? Six months? How would the total logistics actually work?




www.unitedwildlifecooperative.org
 
Tag the ears and count them on the winter range in the future. The logistics are no greater than for sheep or other animals that they do it with, but the end result is simply bigger herds of nasty old' mule deer and not the MAJESTIC BIGHORN SHEEP!

If you must have more immediate statistical info although I don't know what good it will do then you could do a radio collar program but I think ear tags would make just as much sense. I guess you could radio collar ten and tag the other 90 and if you saw a given percentage of radio collared animals on the winter range one could assume similar percentages of tagged deer to be found by ratio to the true number of living radio collared deer etc..

I read that last paragraph and I may be the only one to ever know what it meant but the point is I think you could find some indication of success in the info.

Bill

Kill the buck that makes YOU happy!
 
I guess I see deer translocation like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Until we fix the leak, it doesn't matter how much water we pour in. If the deer in an area can't successfully recruit new fawns into the population, how will bringing in a handful more animals (if they even survive) help in the long run? This doesn't address the root causes of why Utah deer herds aren't growing.

I appreciate the passion of guys that love mule deer and can understand their frustration, but I think there are bigger fish to fry and more complicated problems to solve than whether or not the DWR should translocate a few hundred deer out of Bountiful instead of shooting them.

Dax

There is no such thing as a sure thing in trophy mule deer hunting.
 
I say it sounds like a much better alternative than shooting them. give it a try and see what happens, could not be any worse than what we are doing to them now.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-12 AT 08:10AM (MST)[p]Even 30% survival success Im ok with. Thats better than 100% dead. I wish I could have seen data with that Montana capture and release of mule deer from 1948. It would be interresting to see how many made it.

Anyone know where survival data from mule deer transplants can be found? I cant seem to find anything on the web other than basic transplanting info.
 
The % will be much higher than 30%, more like 70+ %, other ststes relocated deer, Utah can do it too.
 
Malen Vail was able to take deer from the Kaibab and relocate them to Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Calif years ago (1929). We all know that due to the slaughter that was to occur by December 31 (No press report?). If he could do it then with his money, there should be a way to do it now with donations etc. There is that thing called red tape in these days though. Did he lose some? Sure he did, but the hunters over the years that were fortunate to hunt the island would probably tell you it was worth it.
 
Even if only half lived, it would be much better than the bright idea to kill them all. We are in a time where deer are declining and DWR wants to help the cause by killing them instead of moving them.
 

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