Re: Southern Interior Mule Deer Project Update
Originally Posted by
Walking Buffalo
Geist stated that Whitetail and Mule deer occupying the same area will lead to reduced Mule deer populations through post-partum mortality and lost recruitment.
It is almost always a WT buck breeding a MD doe. Almost never the other way.
Hybrid male fawns are typically sterile, females are typically fertile with an ability to successfully mate with either species.
Hybrid deer typically exhibit predator escape behavior that is between the running of a WT and the stotting of the MD.
This trait leaves them especially vulnerable to predators.
The end result is that nearly 100% of mating between WT and MD results in a recruitment loss from the MD population.
As WTs also exhibit more aggressive territorial behavior and a greater reproductive ability (mostly attributed to the % of yearling females that will conceive on their first rut, compared to MD young), the "balance" is quickly pushed in favour of WT deer dominating the landscape.
I've had an opportunity to observe a 400 square mile area for forty years, an area that see very limited hunting.
Forty years ago MD and WT deer were about even on population and dispersal over the landscape.
Now there are only a handful of MD herds in very specific locations, 1000's of WTs and maybe a hundred Mulies.
These last MD live in the few very steep river banks areas. I haven't seen a MD in a field for 15 years....
There are studies (wild and captive animals) that support Geist's suspicions.
And this is why Biologists recommend a GOS for WT Does..
He's anything but a hunter.
More like another, Rain Coast Sociopath Fraud. Living off the prevails of his chronic lies, like the rest of them...
It's an issue, because these sociopath environmentalist's, will dilute the facts.
To the point you or Joe public, won't know them any more..
They count on that big time..