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I got email about this article yesterday. It's about the mule deer study taking place in Wyoming. Quite interesting. Do you guys think it's money well spent? Will we ultimately understand why the herd is struggling?
I found this to be interesting.............
Most pregnant females in the Wyoming Range Herd deliver an average of two fawns each year, but the number of fawns alive three or four months later dropped by about half, Monteith said.
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[font size=+1]Largest mule deer study in state looks at fawns and predators[/font]
http://trib.com/lifestyles/recreati...cle_272c4d6c-c319-555c-ade2-9b38ecc5963b.html
Western Wyoming?s mule deer numbers continue to shrink.
What were once iconic herds in the tens of thousands are now struggling populations. But before researchers can figure out how to bring them back, they first need to know why they have declined.
And it all starts with fawns, said University of Wyoming research professor Kevin Monteith.
?It's accepted that if we want to grow more mule deer, we need to grow more fawns,? Monteith said. ?Hence the focus on those guys.?
Monteith and other researchers are in the middle of one of the largest mule deer studies ever completed in Wyoming looking at fawn survival in the Wyoming Range. He has already started measuring the health of the moms, now he and other researchers are tromping through Wyoming?s mountains and prairies to track the hours-old babies to understand, in part, what role predators are playing on their future.
***
The overall study, now in its second phase, is called the Wyoming Range Mule Deer Project. It follows in the footsteps of the larger Wyoming Range Mule Deer Initiative that started in 2010. With the initiative came a handful of common questions by hunters, recreationists and researchers about what could be causing the decline, Monteith said.
Fingers pointed in all directions. Some blamed poor plant conditions creating less food. Others blamed predators. Some talked about overhunting.
The answers, Monteith knew, could only come through science.
?I think the idea of having the various data sets relative to fawn survival are critical,? said Joshua Coursey, president and CEO of the Muley Fanatics Foundation. ?Those data sets look at if fawns live or die, and if they die, what are the reasons. If it's predation we now have the science behind it to understand that.?
Various groups including the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, Muley Fanatic Foundation, the Animal Damage Management Board and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department helped pay for the roughly $1.5 million study. More money is still needed to finish the final year and a half.
The first phase of the project looked at mule deer response to oil and gas development, identifying migration corridors between summer and winter ranges and assessing winter food conditions. All of that is helping researchers understand how many mule deer the habitat can support.
It took two years and most of the researcher?s time was studying adult mule deer and plant health.
?Phase 2 is to really disentangle and separate and identify the relative roles of habitat, nutrition and predation on fawn survival and cause of mortality,? Monteith said.
Researchers started with what they knew: pregnancy rates are high, but fawn recruitment into the overall population is low. Most pregnant females in the Wyoming Range Herd deliver an average of two fawns each year, but the number of fawns alive three or four months later dropped by about half, Monteith said.
The researchers wanted to know why.
To track the fawns, Monteith, a PhD student and other researchers and volunteers trapped does the Wyoming Range this March and implanted the pregnant ones with tiny radio transmitters. When the radio transmitters fall out of their birth canals, they give off a signal.
For most of June, the team is tracking down the signals to find newly-delivered fawns. The captured ones they fit with tracking collars that expand as the fawns grow, and take body measurements.
Researchers will track the fawns throughout the summer. If the signal changes to indicate a mortality, scientists find it and determine cause of death ? a process one researcher calls fawn CSI.
***
But simply recording the number of fawns killed by black bears or mountain lions doesn't tell the whole story, Monteith said.
Tracts of land can only support certain numbers of fawns because of the quality of the food, weather, and other variables. As an example, if 30 percent of fawns are going to die in a specific herd regardless of predators, and if black bears kill 15 percent, removing all black bears won't necessarily improve fawn survival rates, Monteith said.
If black bears are found to kill 45 percent, on the other hand, then perhaps increasing bear quotas would help.
The first portion of the study helped show the health of habitat, and now researchers will combine it with the mortality information.
Taking all aspects of deer life into account will help wildlife managers such as the Game and Fish Department better manage herds, said Gary Fralick, a Game and Fish wildlife biologist based out of Thayne and Big Piney.
?If predation is limiting fawn survival, or is having a great impact on fawn survival, then we need to know and understand which species of predator, whether coyotes, mountain lions or black bears might be having the greatest impact. The department then may consider adjusting hunting seasons for those species,? Fralick said. ?On the other hand, if we are finding fawns that are in poor conditions because perhaps the does weren't able to produce sufficient milk to nourish them, we can figure out what to do in the birth sites to improve the type of plant to improve condition of does.?
It's on-the-ground research that will hopefully result in practical ways to help mule deer, which is why the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust became involved, said Steve Meadows, vice chairman of the organization.
?That mule deer herd in the Wyoming Range is a state treasure,? Meadows said. ?It's one of the greatest mule deer herds in North America, and to see it in decline has been discouraging. I for one wanted to see our Game and Fish and other NGOs and agencies do whatever they can to change that trend line.?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
LIKE MonsterMuleys.com on Facebook!
I got email about this article yesterday. It's about the mule deer study taking place in Wyoming. Quite interesting. Do you guys think it's money well spent? Will we ultimately understand why the herd is struggling?
I found this to be interesting.............
Most pregnant females in the Wyoming Range Herd deliver an average of two fawns each year, but the number of fawns alive three or four months later dropped by about half, Monteith said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[font size=+1]Largest mule deer study in state looks at fawns and predators[/font]
http://trib.com/lifestyles/recreati...cle_272c4d6c-c319-555c-ade2-9b38ecc5963b.html
Western Wyoming?s mule deer numbers continue to shrink.
What were once iconic herds in the tens of thousands are now struggling populations. But before researchers can figure out how to bring them back, they first need to know why they have declined.
And it all starts with fawns, said University of Wyoming research professor Kevin Monteith.
?It's accepted that if we want to grow more mule deer, we need to grow more fawns,? Monteith said. ?Hence the focus on those guys.?
Monteith and other researchers are in the middle of one of the largest mule deer studies ever completed in Wyoming looking at fawn survival in the Wyoming Range. He has already started measuring the health of the moms, now he and other researchers are tromping through Wyoming?s mountains and prairies to track the hours-old babies to understand, in part, what role predators are playing on their future.
***
The overall study, now in its second phase, is called the Wyoming Range Mule Deer Project. It follows in the footsteps of the larger Wyoming Range Mule Deer Initiative that started in 2010. With the initiative came a handful of common questions by hunters, recreationists and researchers about what could be causing the decline, Monteith said.
Fingers pointed in all directions. Some blamed poor plant conditions creating less food. Others blamed predators. Some talked about overhunting.
The answers, Monteith knew, could only come through science.
?I think the idea of having the various data sets relative to fawn survival are critical,? said Joshua Coursey, president and CEO of the Muley Fanatics Foundation. ?Those data sets look at if fawns live or die, and if they die, what are the reasons. If it's predation we now have the science behind it to understand that.?
Various groups including the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, Muley Fanatic Foundation, the Animal Damage Management Board and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department helped pay for the roughly $1.5 million study. More money is still needed to finish the final year and a half.
The first phase of the project looked at mule deer response to oil and gas development, identifying migration corridors between summer and winter ranges and assessing winter food conditions. All of that is helping researchers understand how many mule deer the habitat can support.
It took two years and most of the researcher?s time was studying adult mule deer and plant health.
?Phase 2 is to really disentangle and separate and identify the relative roles of habitat, nutrition and predation on fawn survival and cause of mortality,? Monteith said.
Researchers started with what they knew: pregnancy rates are high, but fawn recruitment into the overall population is low. Most pregnant females in the Wyoming Range Herd deliver an average of two fawns each year, but the number of fawns alive three or four months later dropped by about half, Monteith said.
The researchers wanted to know why.
To track the fawns, Monteith, a PhD student and other researchers and volunteers trapped does the Wyoming Range this March and implanted the pregnant ones with tiny radio transmitters. When the radio transmitters fall out of their birth canals, they give off a signal.
For most of June, the team is tracking down the signals to find newly-delivered fawns. The captured ones they fit with tracking collars that expand as the fawns grow, and take body measurements.
Researchers will track the fawns throughout the summer. If the signal changes to indicate a mortality, scientists find it and determine cause of death ? a process one researcher calls fawn CSI.
***
But simply recording the number of fawns killed by black bears or mountain lions doesn't tell the whole story, Monteith said.
Tracts of land can only support certain numbers of fawns because of the quality of the food, weather, and other variables. As an example, if 30 percent of fawns are going to die in a specific herd regardless of predators, and if black bears kill 15 percent, removing all black bears won't necessarily improve fawn survival rates, Monteith said.
If black bears are found to kill 45 percent, on the other hand, then perhaps increasing bear quotas would help.
The first portion of the study helped show the health of habitat, and now researchers will combine it with the mortality information.
Taking all aspects of deer life into account will help wildlife managers such as the Game and Fish Department better manage herds, said Gary Fralick, a Game and Fish wildlife biologist based out of Thayne and Big Piney.
?If predation is limiting fawn survival, or is having a great impact on fawn survival, then we need to know and understand which species of predator, whether coyotes, mountain lions or black bears might be having the greatest impact. The department then may consider adjusting hunting seasons for those species,? Fralick said. ?On the other hand, if we are finding fawns that are in poor conditions because perhaps the does weren't able to produce sufficient milk to nourish them, we can figure out what to do in the birth sites to improve the type of plant to improve condition of does.?
It's on-the-ground research that will hopefully result in practical ways to help mule deer, which is why the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust became involved, said Steve Meadows, vice chairman of the organization.
?That mule deer herd in the Wyoming Range is a state treasure,? Meadows said. ?It's one of the greatest mule deer herds in North America, and to see it in decline has been discouraging. I for one wanted to see our Game and Fish and other NGOs and agencies do whatever they can to change that trend line.?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
LIKE MonsterMuleys.com on Facebook!