Radio collared/gps deer

nebo

Active Member
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791
Has anyone every seen one attached to a deer in the wild? What is the methed to capture deer to do this work. Do they use nut guns ot other means?
 
Funny you should ask at this exact time there Nebo. All politics being local- around here they chase them down on the winter range ( Dec-jan in -20 to -30 degree temps) with helicopters until they bog down usually in exhaustion in deep snow and net gun them. Hog tie them, fit them with an expansion collar... if convenient weigh them, age them ( don't ask) cut their horns off to be sold later at auction, and if they haven't died yet they release them into the balmy hills to recover from their benevolent intrusion.

But don't worry they are professionals and any killed are "acceptable losses". Oh and don't forget the "trophy pics" of them grinning sitting atop the hapless buck blindfolded right before the cordless sawzall is deployed. (especially if it is over 200")

And yes it does piss off a lot of people but then again who are we to complain, it's not like they do it with our money or anything.
 
Yes, they use net guns shot out of helicopters. Drug filled darts are usually too risky for deer because the dosage is too hard to calculate due to the size and unknown condition (body fat, pregnancy, disease, weight) of the animal. Too little and they are too hard to handle and can injure themselves or their handlers while too much will put them at risk for proper and safe recovery. Bigger animals do well but deer and pronghorn don't. They most often capture pronghorn in corral traps by herding them into it because they herd well and won't jump the fence, but deer don't herd well and they will jump fences.
 
I just about witnessed this today. A plane and helicopter where bussing the area I was in today. I got to one ridge and the helicopter was on the ground and two guys down along a draw. I saw a deer running away just as I spotted them. I just missed what they where doing but I thought thats what it had to be. Do those net guns sound like a gun going off? This plane and helicopter was on the other side of me before they came my way and they did the same thing. Helicopter disappeared for awhile then back up in the air and over to where I was what was happening
 
There are several ways to get collars on deer but I guess squirrel covered it all in his unbiased and open description. You can capture deer with drive nets which are ground nets, the deer are pushed into with a helicopter. You can use clover traps, which are basically a baited live trap for a deer. You can capture deer with a drop net basically a huge circus tent sized net which is dropped with a remote button on the deer. Finally there are net guns from helicopters, which are shot using a .308 charge. The deer have several things done to them. Body measurements are taken (chest girth, hind foot), tooth aging, blood is drawn, a body condition score is taken, and a few odds and ends. Most studies done are performed on does, not bucks. I have personally seen quite a few with collars. I had one old doe I used to watch every year.
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-13 AT 08:11AM (MST)[p]A couple of weeks ago I saw two does on the same hill side with collars on outside Tooele, Utah. That was the first time I have seen any. Iam thinking of calling the DNR to find out if I can find info on their travels.
 
Thats easy brutus. They collard them on the iland last year, and they crossed the dry frozen lake bed to Tooele. Ones even running around Syracuse/WestPoint.

Yelum

Theres logic, and theres women. They don't go together.
 
>LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-13
>AT 08:11?AM (MST)

>
>A couple of weeks ago I
>saw two does on the
>same hill side with collars
>on outside Tooele, Utah. That
>was the first time I
>have seen any. Iam thinking
>of calling the DNR to
>find out if I can
>find info on their travels.
>

The recent Parowan deer transplant and the Monroe doe/fawn study have brought attention to the capturing, collaring and tagging of deer and other animals, but the DWR have been doing it for quite some time now. I'm glad many more of us are beginning to realize it. And fortunately, they have made progress in better techniques, equipment, knowledge and skills to get a better handle on the problems our wildlife faces. I, for one, applaud them!
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-13 AT 10:04AM (MST)[p]I would agree with everything except for squirrels take on it. I have never been part of a group where they actively shot trophy bucks. In fact they prefer to not have bucks on collars in most studies since the studies are really about herd movement, herd health etc. They will collar younger ones and females, but seldom mature males.

The collaring I worked with was both elk and deer here in Colorado. We used the circus method and clover trap methods for deer. For elk was a single pen baited and drop down canvas sides.

We would typically start trapping in January after all hunting was done. A trap would be set and baited for days before we would drop. From my experience we trapped around 80 deer a year using this method over 3 3 years in 3 separate areas. With elk we trapped around 200 in 3 years. Total we had around 3% mortality on deer and lower on elk from the trapping and the time frame directly following the trapping I believe the scientist defined this as 10 days.

As a college student I was able to work on the project. The amount of data we gathered from just 1 project took a group of 5 2-3 months to totally dissect. We found major travel corridors, we were able to watch animal movement in relation to hunting pressure, we were able to determine mortality rates, etc. We could predict which summer herds would end up in which winter areas.

While there is a cost, the information gathered from such test is unreal. We also caught 3 different poachers during the study.


It was also cool to see certain animals and their habits. I could go into many stories...
 
squirrel is referring to a study of buck survival being conducted in Middle Park. About 100 bucks were collared for that study. They cut the darned antlers off, so squirrel couldn't pick up the sheds!
 
I have never seen one collared but not sure the net gun is that good on the animal. I was going to go back where I seen this happen but is a long walk in. I did see where there was blood on the snow. It was a patch maybe 5x5 of orange red color on the snow. I quess thay have to do what they need to do but not sure this is the best method. I have a hard time but I will say they where not there long with the deer. 15 to 20 at the most.
 
I have seen three in California one on the summer range one a side hill while in the boat fishing,the second one crossed a road in front if me while heading up to a lake to go fishing, it was pretty much on summer range but it could of still been following snow and gone another 5 miles if it wanted.Third was in march while shed hunting it was in a herd of 100 deer on winter ground ,all three were does.
 
There is a study being done on Mountain Lions right now that spand The Oquirrs and the 2 ranges west. One way they track lion populations is by watching the deer. USU and the DWR is also conducting studies on Monroe and Fish lake this way. Many of the collars you see are for not only the deer study but for the lion study as well.
 

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