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Founder Since 1999
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Here's the emailed update for those interested. This is good stuff in my opinion.
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Mule deer translocation update for March 9th - March 15th
?Thank you to all of those who helped finish with the last part of the second translocation (Tuesday March 12th). All 16 deer captured near Parowan and released near Holden were pregnant. Two of the 51 deer captured for the second translocation were not pregnant.
We had two translocated deer mortalities this week and one resident deer mortality. One translocated deer released on Tuesday appears to have died of capture-related causes. The other translocated deer was found shot in the chest by a small caliber firearm near a dirt road. We also suspect the resident deer mortality identified this week was shot though no obvious bullet wounds were evident. This deer was found near the same road where the translocated deer was shot and killed. We've contacted the local conservation officer with this information and an investigation is currently underway. The resident deer we suspect as being poached has been taken to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Nephi for confirmation and if shot, hopefully retrieval of the bullet. In addition, we've increased surveillance of radio-marked deer and deployed remote cameras to assist with monitoring.
We've listened for radio signals 2 times since the last update and identified the general location for 48 of 48 resident deer and 92 of 94 translocated deer.
We are currently missing two translocated deer. One of these deer we have not heard since it was released in March. The other deer has been located off and on each week since it was released in January. We have a flight scheduled this week (pending weather conditions) and will focus on locating these two missing deer.
This week, we downloaded data from 3 GPS collars. We have now downloaded data from a total of 15 GPS collars, all of which appear to be working well (Thanks Kent!). This information from these GPS collars will be valuable as we continue to evaluate habitat selection and movement patterns of translocated deer.
We have continued to carefully (without disturbing them) observe translocated deer. We have now observed 20 different translocated deer. All but one of them has been associated with groups of resident deer. Although time intensive, we will continue these efforts.
We worked on production of an article for "The Sportsmen's Voice" detailing the first few months of this project.
In summary, we've had 9 total mortalities (2 of 50 resident deer, 8 of 102 translocated deer). At least three of the translocated deer mortalities were related to the capture. Forty eight resident deer and 92 translocated deer were alive and accounted for this week.
We continue to urge caution when interpreting these results as we are only a couple months into this project. We suspect to learn much more in the coming months--particularly as we move into the periods of spring migration and parturition (birth).
Thanks to all for continued interest and support.
Please forward to any that are interested.
David Smedley and Randy Larsen
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Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
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Mule deer translocation update for March 9th - March 15th
?Thank you to all of those who helped finish with the last part of the second translocation (Tuesday March 12th). All 16 deer captured near Parowan and released near Holden were pregnant. Two of the 51 deer captured for the second translocation were not pregnant.
We had two translocated deer mortalities this week and one resident deer mortality. One translocated deer released on Tuesday appears to have died of capture-related causes. The other translocated deer was found shot in the chest by a small caliber firearm near a dirt road. We also suspect the resident deer mortality identified this week was shot though no obvious bullet wounds were evident. This deer was found near the same road where the translocated deer was shot and killed. We've contacted the local conservation officer with this information and an investigation is currently underway. The resident deer we suspect as being poached has been taken to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Nephi for confirmation and if shot, hopefully retrieval of the bullet. In addition, we've increased surveillance of radio-marked deer and deployed remote cameras to assist with monitoring.
We've listened for radio signals 2 times since the last update and identified the general location for 48 of 48 resident deer and 92 of 94 translocated deer.
We are currently missing two translocated deer. One of these deer we have not heard since it was released in March. The other deer has been located off and on each week since it was released in January. We have a flight scheduled this week (pending weather conditions) and will focus on locating these two missing deer.
This week, we downloaded data from 3 GPS collars. We have now downloaded data from a total of 15 GPS collars, all of which appear to be working well (Thanks Kent!). This information from these GPS collars will be valuable as we continue to evaluate habitat selection and movement patterns of translocated deer.
We have continued to carefully (without disturbing them) observe translocated deer. We have now observed 20 different translocated deer. All but one of them has been associated with groups of resident deer. Although time intensive, we will continue these efforts.
We worked on production of an article for "The Sportsmen's Voice" detailing the first few months of this project.
In summary, we've had 9 total mortalities (2 of 50 resident deer, 8 of 102 translocated deer). At least three of the translocated deer mortalities were related to the capture. Forty eight resident deer and 92 translocated deer were alive and accounted for this week.
We continue to urge caution when interpreting these results as we are only a couple months into this project. We suspect to learn much more in the coming months--particularly as we move into the periods of spring migration and parturition (birth).
Thanks to all for continued interest and support.
Please forward to any that are interested.
David Smedley and Randy Larsen
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Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
