Parowan Deer Transplant #2

[ForkWest]

This has been fascinating to follow of the past few years. Thanks much elkfromabove for taking the time to share this with us all! As I've mentioned before, to be able to cut through all the rhetoric and look at actual data is invaluable.

The two big things that stick out to me are:

1- Clearly transplanted deer have a slightly higher risk of mortality the first year after transport. But compare that to the alternative where excess deer, either urban or depredation, are just killed, it's good to know transplanting is a viable option versus a 0% chance of survival.

2- Predation is the number #1 cause of death. Of all the factors playing in to the mule deer population decline, (i.e. winter, habitat, highways, draught, urban encroachment, juniper, fire suppression, predation, etc.) predator management is one of the factors we have the most control over and is by far the cheapest to implement/manage. So why not more?

 

[elkfromabove]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-09-15 AT 10:49AM (MST)[p]Another update!

From Lee: This update is edited by myself for clarity and for simplification of numbers. If you prefer the original, send me an email request at [email protected].

Mule Deer translocation update for April 9 - June 5

Project background/goals: (From Lee: See post #30)

Since the last update, we have had 1 slipped collar (2014 transplant to the Oak Creeks from Antelope Island) and 8 translocated deer mortalities on the Oak Creeks (all 2015 transplants from Parowan Front). From Lee: Per the tables, there also was 1 slipped collar on the Pahvant, Jan 2013.

Oak Creeks
-1 slipped collar (2014 transplant). The necklace material appears to have failed prematurely.
-1 deer was found tangled in a fence.
-2 unknown causes of mortality. These deer had been scavenged and very little was left to aid in determining the cause of death.
-2 mortalities were caused by vehicle collisions.
-3 mortalities appear to be cougar predations (cached and drag marks.

Developments over the last few months continue to reinforce the idea that transplanted deer demonstrate lower survival than resident deer during the initial year following release (all of the mortalities in the last two months have been from deer released in 2015) but not in year two or three post release (no mortalities for 2013, 2014 or resident deer over the past two months).

Some deer can still be found on winter range, but most have migrated. Currently deer are spread from the north to south end of the Pahvant and Oak Creek Mountains with radio signals audible from both the east and west sides of these ranges.

We have been very busy analyzing data, completing the annual report for year 2 (attached) (From Lee: Email me for an original copy of this update which includes the attachment.) and presenting the results to biologists and managers at the mule deer and elk workshop.

Over the next 6 months, we will continue to monitor radio-marked deer and complete the report for this project which is scheduled to finish at the end of 2015. Regular (approximately monthly) updates will continue through 2015.

Thanks to all for continued interest and support. Please forward to anyone else interested and let us know if there is additional information you would like reported in our regular updates.

David Smedley & Randy Larsen (BYU)

From Lee: Edited tables:
PAROWAN FRONT TO PAHVANT TRANSPLANTED AND PAHVANT RESIDENT DEER:
Jan'13-res-50captured-18alive-16dead-12slipped collar-4missing
Jan'13-trans-51captured-13alive-29dead-5slipped collar-4missing
Mar'13-trans-51captured-15alive-26dead-7slipped collar-3missing
Jan'14-res-20captured-13alive-7dead
Jan'14-trans-51captured-30alive-18dead-1slipped collar-2missing
Mar'14-trans-47captured-24alive-18dead-3slipped collar-2missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Jan'13-res-16dead-5cougar-6coyote-4unknown-1disease
Jan'13-trans-29dead-10cou-2coy-2bcat-3veh-1poach-7unk-2cap-2dis
Mar'13-trans-26dead-7cou-5coy-3poach-7unk-2capture-2dis
Jan'14-res-7dead-2cou-1coy-2unk-2cap
Jan'14-trans-18dead-7cou-2coy-5unk-4cap
Mar'14-trans-18dead-4cou-4coy-1veh-1poach-7unk-1cap

ANTELOPE ISLAND TO OAK CREEK TRANSPLANTED DEER:
Feb'14-trans-47captured-21alive-24dead-2missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Feb'14-trans-24dead-7cou-6coy-1veh-10unk

ANTELOPE ISLAND TO SAN JUAN TRANSPLANTED DEER:
Feb'14-trans-50captured-27alive-21dead-2missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Feb'14-trans-21dead-2cou-4coy-3veh-10unk-2cap

PAROWAN FRONT TO OAK CREEK TRANSPLANTED DEER:
Mar'15-trans-79captured/41collars-28alive-13dead
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Mar'15-trans-13dead-3coug-2veh-3unk-4cap-1dis.

Thanks for looking! Until next update,
Lee Tracy (UWC)

 

[elkfromabove]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-14-15 AT 07:27PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Sep-14-15 AT 12:07?PM (MST)

Another Update!

From Lee: This update is edited from the original email for clarity and simplification of numbers. If you prefer the original, send me an email at [email protected]

Mule deer translocation update for June 6 - September 2.

Project background/goals: See post #30.

Since the last update we have had 1 slipped collar on the Pahvant, 8 transplanted deer mortalities on the Pahvant and 3 transplanted deer mortalities on the Oak Creeks (2015 transplants). We have had a total of 13 transplanted deer mortalities this year on the San Juan (thanks Dustin).

PAHVANT:
- 1 slipped collar (2013 transplant). The necklace material appears to have failed prematurely.
- 3 unknown causes of mortality (2 from 2013 transplants, 1 from 2014 transplant). These deer had mostly been scavenged and very little was left to aid in determining the cause of death.
- 2 mortalities appear to be predation, 1 cougar, 1 coyote (2014 transplants).
- 3 mortalities were caused by vehicle collisions on I-15 and I-70 (2014 transplants).

OAK CREEKS:
- 1 mortality appears to be coyote predation (2015 transplant).
- 2 unknown causes of mortality (2015 transplants). These deer had been scavenged and very little was left to aid in determining the cause of death. Identifying causes of death is more difficult in the summer as the decomposing process moves much more quickly in the heat.

SAN JUAN:
- 10 unknown causes of mortality (2 from 2014 transplants, 8 from 2015 transplants).
- 2 mortalities appear to be predation, 1 cougar, 1 coyote (2015 transplants).
- 1 capture related mortality (2015 transplant).

Results from this year confirm the pattern found in each of the past two years where deer survival is lower than average during the initial year following release (often around 50%), but then back in line with survival rates of resident deer during year two or three post release (typically near 85% average annual survival). In the first 8 months of 2015, for example, we've confirmed mortalities for 5% of resident deer, 8% of deer transplanted to the Pahvant in 2013, 15% of deer transplanted to the Pahvant in 2014, 8% of deer transplanted to the Oak Creeks in 2014, 7% of deer transplanted to the San Juan in 2014, 32% of deer transplanted to the Oak Creeks in 2015, and 40% of the deer released on the San Juan in 2015. We suspect this pattern will continue and we will end up with about 50% survival for deer released in 2015 with 80-90% survival for resident deer and for transplanted deer in years 2-3 following release.

We also continue to observe a very strong relationship between annual survival and the estimated age of transplanted animals. Attached is a figure showing this relationship where young (2-3 years old) animals survive the initial year at nearly 3x the rate of older deer. It is also interesting to note that younger deer in their second year following release are also surviving better than older deer.

Currently, deer are spread from the north to south end of the Oak Creek Mountains and from the north end of the Pahvant to the north end of the Beaver Mountains (south of the Pahvant), with radio signals audible from both the east and west sides of each mountain range.

We have been very busy over the past several months analyzing data and drafting a thesis that will become two manuscripts for the peer-reviewed literature (one on survival of transplanted mule deer; one on movements and space use of transplanted animals from this study).

Over the next few months, we will continue to monitor radio-marked deer and complete the final report for this project which is scheduled to finish at the end of 2015. Regular (approximately monthly) updates will continue through 2015.

Thanks to all for continued interest and support. Please forward to anyone else interested and let us know if there is additional information you would like reported in our regular updates.

David Smedley and Randy Larsen (BYU)

PAROWAN TO PAHVANT TRANSPLANTED AND PAHVANT RESIDENT CONTROL DEER:
Jan'13-resident-50captured/18alive/16dead/12slipped collars/4missing
Jan'13-transplanted-51captured/12alive/30dead/5slipped collars/4missing
Mar'13-transplanted-51capture/13alive/27dead/8slipped collars/3missing
Jan'14-resident-20captured/13alive/7dead
Jan'14-transplanted-51captured/27alive/21dead/1slipped collar/2missing
Mar'14-transplanted-47captured-22alive/20dead/3slipped collar/2missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Jan'13-res-16dead/5cougar/6coyote/4unknown/1disease
Jan'13-trans-30dead/10cou/2coy/2bobcat/3vehicle/1poach/8unk/2capture/2dis
Mar'13-trans-27dead/7cou/5coy/3poach/8unk/2cap/2dis
Jan'14-res-7dead/2cou/1coy/2unk/2cap
Jan'14-trans-21dead/7cou/2coy/2veh/6unk/4cap
Mar'14-trans-20dead/5cou/5coy/1poach/1veeh/7unk/1cap

ANTELOPE ISLAND TO OAK CREEKS TRANPLANTED DEER:
Feb'14-transplanted-47captured/22alive/24dead/1missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Feb'14-trans-24dead/7cougar/6coyote/1vehicle/10unknown

ANTELOPE ISLAND TO SAN JUAN TRANSPLANTED DEER:
Feb'14-transplanted-51captured/27alive/23dead/1missing
Jan'15-transplanted-25collared/13alive/11dead/1missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Feb'14-trans-23dead/2cougar/4coyote/5vehicle/10unknown/2capture
Jan'15-trans-11dead/1cou/1coy/8unk/1cap

PAROWAN TO OAK CREEKS TRANSPLANTED DEER:
Mar'15-transplanted-41collared/22alive/16dead/3missing
CAUSES OF DEATH:
Mar'15-trans-16dead/3cou/1coy/2veh/5unk/4cap/1dis

Until next time,
Lee Tracy (UWC)

 

[heartshot]

Thanks again elkfromabove!

I always enjoy reading these updates.