Deer Transplant

[cosmic_cowboy]

NMDGF is going to catch and move some of the deer in Silver City.
Glad they are trying this instead of killing them.
Jack

 

[huntswnm]

Its not the first time. They trapped and moved a bunch of deer back in 2012. I have never seen an official report come out of what happened to those deer, but people I know who work for G&F estimated that something like 80% of those deer didn't survive 1 year once moved. Generations of deer have been born and "grown up" within city limits. They have all but lost the ability to find food for themselves and the only predators they have to worry about here are the kind with tires. You put these deer into a "wild" area and all you are doing is feeding the lions and bears. Last year the G&F conducted a very successful population reduction where G&F officers shot does with small caliber rimfire cartridges and "sold" the deer to local families who could use the meat. There was a waiting list due to the interest in the meat. This year they are allowing unsuccessful archery tag holders to be able to kill a doe on private property, with permission of course. The way I see it, out of all 3 ways of reducing deer numbers in the neighborhoods in and around Silver City trap and transplant seems to be the least successful.

 

[smarba]

I echo having heard same information that huntswnm states: vast majority of transplanted animals don't survive long.

Same thing with bears. It provides a "warm fuzzy" (no pun intended) for city folk to hear that G&F is taking garbage raiding bruins out into the wild away from our urban areas, but the reality is that most are either killed by the local ruling bear, can't figure out how to survive & find food in the wild, or make tracks back to civilization and are killed on the highway or have to be put down as causing problems in urban areas again.

Transplanting is a very low percentage undertaking.

Look how hard G&F has to work to get transplanted bighorn to take hold: aggressively kill lions and other predators, provide water, etc. etc. Sadly it is not cost effective to work that hard to help transplanted deer.

 

[jamaro]

They are literately... Outside my house... hahahah...

The archery doe hunt is going on right now... Not real sure about the timing but....


J-

 

[earlyriser]

I contacted the cruces game dept. and was basically told if I don't know any landowners that I was s.o.l. They didn't even keep track or have a list of landowners who have problems. Not an effective way to handle that portion of it in my opinion. Letting hunters in is probably the best way to lean the herd.

 

[jamaro]

SOOO.. I went down there to take a few pics...
12 trucks
30+ dudes and 1 lady.

as of 10am they had 6 deer.

J-

 

[cosmic_cowboy]

So what you guys are saying is the transplants don't work its just a feel good thing to do. I know this is true with bears because there's no ground left for a young bear to establish a territory without a older bear killing them. But I think with good habitat and NO or very few predators there is a chance that some of the deer will survive and help replenish depleted herds. I'm not an expert but I think we should try it and study the results... If they all die, its a waste of time and money.There are Islands and other places that it HAS worked. It works with Antelope and Big Horns but you have to have predator control. I would rather see the meat get eaten by US rather than Lions and Coyotes but our deer herd needs HELP and I think we should try something...
Jack

 

[muleywhisperer]

I would love to see if more studies can be done on the relocation of deer to know for certain if these deer are doomed at the time of relocating them. My guess is that most the deer in and around Silver City winter there and have some ability to survive away from where they were raised. I think that game and fish need to relocate into area that have fair deer numbers not low numbers. When you introduce deer in to areas with high predation and low deer numbers you are not saving the deer you are feeding the cats.

 

[jamaro]

I have seen all kinds of numbers on the survival of the transplanted deer, it is pretty low... Yes, it is a feel good type of thing... They say for each trapping it is a min of $40,000...
I do think that G and F is learning about how to do this best. This year all the deer are going to be dumped in areas that has had extensive predator control...ie. sheep areas.

 

[huntswnm]

J, from the article I read they said they were dumping them in the bootheel and at Alma. I think those are the same areas that they took the last round up a couple of years ago? Isn't it ironic that 10+ years ago they transplanted some deer from the bootheel into the Burros when they closed that area for 5 years, and now they are putting neighborhood deer back down there?

As far as the deer around Silver City very few, if any, "winter" here. Not sure where you are from, but here in SW NM there is no migration of deer to speak of. These deer are literally born in someone's back yard and are considered well traveled if they move into the neighboring subdivision.

jeff

 

[jamaro]

Here is part of the news release..

Managers will release the mule deer far from urban areas at sites where they hope to boost declining mule deer populations. Half of the deer will be released in the San Francisco River Valley and the remainder will be moved to the Peloncillo Mountains. Biologists hope that the high-quality habitat of the release sites will increase the odds of survival and that deer populations will continue to increase at the sites.


You can read that... Places where there is predator control for the sheep...

J-