Three-bar deer capture

[CouesWhitetail]

Keith is correct. The enclosure was predator free. Over the years I think they had a bear climb in, but they got it out. The predation by lions was on fawns outside the enclosure. The fenced area is not closed now. They opened it last year.

 

Amanda

 

[CouesWhitetail]

Sdrhunter,

 

I tried to find that out, and in general they thought they were in good condition but they didn't have the data with them from last year's rump fat measurements and no one seemed to know if the measurements they got this year were particularly good or not. The deer seemed in good condition to me. But I don't have the data to compare to last year. I guess I expected them to be in exceptional condition this year, not sure they really were though. I will be interested to see what the data says. Most does were carrying twins, but I think that was true last year as well.

 

Amanda

 

[Snapshot]

That's great to see that research in full effect, I never knew that much effort effort and technology go into the capture and monitoring of deer.

[wetmule]

Way to go Amanda glad you got to participate, and great pics, thanks for posting! When Jim Devos made his presentation to the ADA Board last year, from all the past researsch done on Three Bar up to this point, one can conclude that the primary and possibly only limiting factor for deer - is predation. When the fence was up with no predators the deer did extremely well inside while at the same time on the outside where predators roamed unabated, the deer did extremely poor. All this taking place during an extremely rough drought period where weather conditions, forage etc. were the same inside the enclosure as it was outside. One can conclude at least in the Three Bar area, that drought, weather, poor forage etc. has little to do with a deer's survivability. It's all about Predators. I believe I remember Amanda asking Jim in that meeting something to the effect of - Can one conclude or assume that in other parts of the State - other deer herds are being limited by the same factors ie: predators? If I remember right he was a little hesitant in answering but he said yes, one can come to that conclusion. This research is being done as a result of that meeting and its results may or may not futher the theory that predators are the biggest limiting factor in this deer herd. I also remember that the G&F was a little hesitant to get involved in this project. Congrats to them for getting involved and here's hoping that they use this information and data collected to better manage our deer herds, and hopefully and maybe more importantly our predators.

Given their recent stance on hunter recruitment and retention, that may be a tool that they have to use again at some point. But given all the green opposition

to doing anything at all about predators, it's going to be a tough road to hoe.

[catfish]

You caught just carp man no whitetails thanks for the cool pictures

[SunDevil]

why did they open the enclosure? do I recall something about a fire and having to open it to let the deer escape that?

 

I remember reading a pretty lengthy report several years ago on the enclosure and the deer numbers inside and outside and the relationship between precipitation and predation. if I remember correctly the summation was that the deer herd had remained stable inside the enclosure while outside the herd plummeted. this is when AZGFD was mainly pointing to precipitation as being the main cause of the number of deer (mainly mule deer) dropping over the last 15 years. not surprisingly, the report was nothing the AZGFD publicized because it's findings were that predation was the key thing to deer numbers and not rainfall. this coming several years after the embarassing '92 ban on trapping on public property.

[KGAINES]

The herd in the enclosure grew I believe. The study they are conducting right now will show exactly what is happening to the fawns. I will have to ask Jim if there were any does last year that were preyed upon prior to giving birth.

[jdevos]

This is a short follow up to the posting by Amanda relative to the Three-Bar capture. This is a segment of several studies that have been conducted on the Three-Bar relative to low fawn survival. The focus of this portion is to determine cause-specific mortality rates. The implants will drop out when the fawns are born and will be captured by the biologists and marked with telemetry and tracked to determine their fate. As an interesting note, all of the does that were captured were pregnant and the majority of them were carrying twins. This project is being supported by Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Arizona Deer Association and Texas Tech University. The results of this study will help develop better information on how to manage mule deer in the Southwest. As indicated, this is another segment of the series of studies done to learn about causes of low fawn survival. Work that is being written up now showed that deer in the enclosure increased in numbers to very high densities even in an era with low precipitation inside the enclosure while they remained at very low densities outside. This finding lead to the current study to document the cause of fawn mortality.

 

Jim deVos

[CouesWhitetail]

Thanks for the input Jim!

 

One question for you. I recall Ockenfels telling me that even within the enclosure they were losing close to 50% of the fawns and no one knew why. Is that accurate and do you know anymore about that?

 

Thanks.

Amanda

 

[ultramag]

I was in that are in feb javalina huntin and we saw a lot of WT and muleys. Even in the fenced encloser. that a neet place.

[jdevos]

Thanks for the input Jim!

 

One question for you. I recall Ockenfels telling me that even within the enclosure they were losing close to 50% of the fawns and no one knew why. Is that accurate and do you know anymore about that?

 

Thanks.

Amanda

In virtually all studies that I am aware of, even those done in harsh environmental periods, most does are pregnant with twin fawns. `If you look at the literature, parturition rates are about 1,6 to 1.7 fawns per doe, which yields about 160 fawns to 100 does. In the last portion of where the enclosure was closed, there were times approximately 100 fawns per 100 does were detected on the deer drive in fall, so it is clear that a sizable portion of the fawns drop is lost and not recruited. The factors that influence this are many and include weather patterns, habitat quality, predation, poor nutrition whereby the doe is unable to effectively feed and raise her twins, presence of alternative prey for predators etc. In my mind, I think that these factors interact with eachother to determine the potential success a doe has to raise her fawns.

While I try to look at predation as a portion of mortality that occurs to the fawn segment of the population i do believe that many factors influence this relationship. The primary goal of this research is to try and develop an understanding of the interacting factors that influence fawn survival and recruitment. Sorry for the long answer to a simple question, but yes, even in the enclosure, a substantial portion of the fawns dropped each year died before the deer drive in early winter.

 

Jim deVos

[Mark-Devin]

Jim or Amanda,

 

Has there been any discussion or data on the possible predation by resident birds of prey. I know fawn drop occurs when many of our birds of prey head for cooler climates but, wonder about those non-migrating rascals of the sky.