Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Good info to be aware of...
Mule deer and access
Behaviour changes What it shows
Habitat selection by mule deer during migration: effects of landscape structure and natural-gas development, (Lendrum et al 2012)
Animals move faster through areas of roads, select habitat away from disturbance
Winter habitat selection of mule deer before and during development of a natural gas field (Sawyer et al, 2006)
Reduced/altered habitat use by mule deer out to 3km from site of disturbance
Migrating Mule Deer: Effects of Anthropogenic ally Altered Landscapes (Lendrum et al, 2013)
Development alters movement rate during migration, implications on arrival times, departure times, birthing areas, locomotion cost
Elk and access
Behavioural changes What it shows
Distribution of Mule Deer and Elk in Relation to Roads (Gregory, 1979)
Avoid areas of high road density and high traffic volume. Effect of Forest Roads and Habitat Use by Roosevelt Elk (Witmer 1985) Avoidance of 250, on either side of paved roads, 125m from forestry spur roads and no avoidance of roads closed to motor vehicles. Thresholds in landscape connectivity and mortality risks in response to growing road networks (Frair et al, 2008) As road density increases elk avoid usage of habitat and increased displacement of elk occurs as they potentially seek more secure habitat. Effects of Roads on Elk: Implications for Management in Forested Ecosystmes (Rowland et al, 2005)
Avoid 250m on either side of a road, animals lived in smaller herds to avoid detection, more tolerate of disturbance when appropriate cover is available.
Why stress matters
Research Literature What it shows Condition, Survival, and Cause- Specific Mortality of Adult Female Mule Deer in North-Central New Mexico(Bender et al, 2007)
Mule deer with high fat and body condition scores had higher winter survival rates
Effect of Enhanced Nutrition on Mule Deer Population Rate of Change (Bishop et al, 2009)
Increased nutritional quality did not increase pregnancy but did increase winter survival and neonate survival. Relations between nutritional condition and survival of North American elk Cervus elaphus (Bender et al, 2006)
Showed increased risk of non-human caused mortality with reduced body fat and increased muscle metabolized.
Species have road density thresholds
Species Road density Literature
Large ungulates
0.6 km/km2 (apparent threshold value for naturally functioning landscape)
Ecological effects of roads: towards three summary indices an overview for north America. (Foreman et al, 1997) Moose 0.2-0.4 km/km2 apparent
threshold of moose in summer and winter respectively
Functional responses, seasonal variation and thresholds in behavioural responses of moose to road density (Hawthorne et al, 2013) Elk 1.0-1.5 km/km2 increased
habitat avoidance and emigration of elk seeking secure habitat
Thresholds in landscape connectivity and mortality risks in response to growing road networks (Frairs et al, 2008) Elk 1.9 km/km2 (Density
Standard for habitat effectiveness
Wolves and access
Behavioral responses of wolves to roads: scale-dependent ambivalence (Zimmermann et al, 2014)
Wolves use roads to travel 2x as fast. Develop cryptic behaviour to utilize roads without increased visibility
How linear features alter predator movement and the functional response (McKenzie et al, 2012)
Wolves select for travel on seismic lines, increased rate of travel, increase encounter rate. Prey are at higher vulnerability when in areas of high density Caribou encounters with wolves increase near roads and trails: a time- to-event approach (Whittington et al, 2011)
Risk of encounter greater around trails
Movement responses by wolves to industrial linear features and their effect on woodland Caribou in Northeastern Alberta. (Latham et al, 2011)
Concluded seismic lines increase wolf predation risk for caribou resulting in avoidance behaviour of caribou Faster and farther: wolf movement on linear features and implications of hunting behaviour (Dickie et al, 2016)
Wolves move up to 3x faster, farther, higher search rate associated with linear features.
https://i.imgur.com/x8gUpVu.png
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Sometimes we, as hunters and conservationists, have to take matters into our own hands. Granted there is a study going on and all are eagerly awaiting the results but in the mean time if we see there is an alarming drop in numbers of mule deer then quit hunting them. Granted studies done on the imprenation of the does shows a high impregnation rate the bottom line is the animals are still dieing. If all that was left were 100 does and 2 bucks and there is a high impregnation rate it would be immaterial to the survival of the species as, if things don't change, these too will die off.
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ourea
Wildlife needs 2 key components to survive let alone thrive.
1) Habitat
2) Security
(One can drill down further under these two headings with factors such as habitat fragmentation, resource extraction, loss of winter range, preds etc.)
And Walksalot, we are destroying both.
Region 8 is pretty big. Fortunately there are areas that are still old growth and prime habitat.
The honey hole I hunt is at or near carrying capacity. Haven't seen any sign of wolves, very few bears.
I estimate a Monster Muley, every 500 yards, having seen 30" spreads after kicking them off their bed.
The size of the prints and shit everywhere is quite remarkable!
https://i.imgur.com/DEmQUql.png
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Enjoy.
Remember that this thread is on the Boundary and Okanagan and calling attention to the project.
Data is irrefutable on the status of MD deer based on annual inventories and collaring data.
Some areas are stable and others are imploding.
Monster mulie every 500 yards......ur killin me.
Are you one of those guys that say 30" this, 190" that, bounced this.....yet has never closed on a hammer but only posts pics of deer shit?
Please tell me you are just joshing with us.
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Walking Buffalo
I'm curious as to how the predation evaluation of this study is being done.
Cats may be influencing populations much more than expected.
A recent cougar study in Alberta.
Cougar Kill Rate and Prey Composition in a Multiprey System
http://sci-northern.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CougarKillRateandPreyComposition.pdf
Knopff is basing his conclusions on data collected from more than 1,500 kill sites while tracking 54 cougars with GPS collars. The collars allowed the University of Alberta researchers, including his wife Aliah, to move in quickly after a kill to identify what was taken and by which lion.
In the journal article Knopff writes that some previous studies “may have failed to identify higher kill rates for large carnivores in summer because methods in those studies did not permit researchers to locate many neonates or because sample size was too small.”
The use of GPS collars enabled Knopff and his colleagues to collect more data. As a result, he found that mountain lions killed more deer, elk and moose during the summer by focusing on juveniles and actually killed fewer animals in winter. The information contradicts previous studies conducted in Idaho.
“The Idaho estimates differed from our summer estimates by as much as 365 percent in terms of frequency of killing and 538 percent in terms of prey biomass,” Knopff wrote. “Because kill rate fundamentally influences the effect predators have on their prey, the discrepancy between studies represents a substantial difference in the capacity for cougars to impact ungulates.”
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/mountain-lion-study.41710/
Interesting, thanks for posting...
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
those red densitie zones used to be the better moose zones aswell...
i would agree access, lack of winter range,stress,roads and no cover...is a majour factor.
predators its alarming how many fawns a bbear takes...firstbtime i saw it the bear was running with a fawn in its mouth like a retreiver with a duck..
one fawn call and the bear came for the new fawn aswell..unfortunatley for the bear the new fawn sent a 410 grain bullet at 2650fps at him.lol
on my way home tonight i saw where 4 whitetails where running across the road and there was pred tracks behind them..upon inspection two coyotes where chasing them...
there was three in that pack but one was a little slower than the other two.. and he spent to much time at the one of there kill sights..and was dumb enough to stare at me at 80yds..
time to slow the logging a bit and have logging companies deactivate.
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ourea
Enjoy.
Remember that this thread is on the Boundary and Okanagan and calling attention to the project.
Data is irrefutable on the status of MD deer based on annual inventories and collaring data.
Some areas are stable and others are imploding.
Monster mulie every 500 yards......ur killin me.
Are you one of those guys that say 30" this, 190" that, bounced this.....yet has never closed on a hammer but only posts pics of deer shit?
Please tell me you are just joshing with us.
Ha Ha!
I haven't been hunting long enough, to to be so lucky to connect on one of these unicorns yet.
I found the place 2 years ago, on the first day I bumped one! He left me a curious 2 point and I went home..
Last fall I spent 3 - 4 day spurts really learning the area.
Found them bedded in the thick coming down, got unlucky with the swirling wind every time.
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ohwildwon
Ha Ha!
I haven't been hunting long enough, to to be so lucky to connect on one of these unicorns yet.
I found the place 2 years ago, on the first day I bumped one! He left me a curious 2 point and I went home..
Last fall I spent 3 - 4 day spurts really learning the area.
Found them bedded in the thick coming down, got unlucky with the swirling wind every time.
And how would you react to finding your said honey hole being nothing more than a clearcut or a block and road stuffed right beside it next yr?
Where did your deer go after this?
How did they adapt after their security and habitat was compromised?
Could you adapt?
Did your honey hole deer adapt?
Did numbers just tank or did they relocated without compromise?
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ourea
Monster mulie every 500 yards......ur killin me.
Are you one of those guys that say 30" this, 190" that, bounced this.....yet has never closed on a hammer but only posts pics of deer shit?
Please tell me you are just joshing with us.
Duallie is back!
Re: Mule deer study in the Okanagan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ourea
And how would you react to finding your said honey hole being nothing more than a clearcut or a block and road stuffed right beside it next yr?
Where did your deer go after this?
How did they adapt after their security and habitat was compromised?
Could you adapt?
Did your honey hole deer adapt?
Did numbers just tank or did they relocated without compromise?
So, someone posts some good news, that it s not all doom and gloom out there.
And you turn it around and make it all about yourself.
Nice