Weekend mule deer capture

[BuzzH]

Spent Saturday and Sunday with some other volunteers helping out with a mule deer capture.

It went really well, with 55 of 60 gps collars now out doing their thing to help figure out mule deer migrations, how much time they spend on certain areas, where they prefer to live, etc. Actually, by now, probably all 60 as they were going to finish up this morning.

The process ran smoothly, the GF and their employees have their stuff together. The deer were fitted with collars, blood drawn, ultrasound to determine if they had fawns, and sent on their way.

Worked like this:

Helicopter crew would radio in there were deer on the way:



Go out and get them once they were on the ground:



Fitted with collars, blood work, etc.



Within about 5-10 minutes....on their way home.



I was talking with one of the lead biologists and they said within about 10-14 hours all the deer were back to where they were captured.

This study will be valuable to help understand movements, predation, habitat preferences and a whole host of other things.

 

[Muskeez]

great to see! Thanks for sharing. Did they look like they got through the tough winter OK or were some of them pretty thin?

 

[BlakeA]

Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Big Fin]

Cool. Good work to that crew.

I spent the weekend at RMEF Elk Camp and Arthur Middleton gave two very detailed presentations of his work on elk migration studies. These migrations are fascinating stuff and emphasize the need for large landscape conservation far better than any illustration I've seen.

 

[Oak]

Saw this on FB, very cool. We were capturing sheep down here this weekend, but unfortunately the helicopter crew was processing them in situ.

 

[BuzzH]

The deer did look to be in pretty good shape over-all considering the time of year. In the group collared on Saturday, all but 2 had twin fawns, one had a single (very old doe) and one didn't have any fawns at all. That ultra-sound stuff is pretty cool.

The body conditions seemed to be pretty good near as I could tell and from talking with the biologists.

Oak, they captured sheep yesterday morning as well on Laramie Peak. Did some moose work too, been a busy week for everyone in the Laramie/Cheyenne areas with wildlife stuff.

 

[theat]

Good stuff. I work on a capture crew. Here are a few of our recent catches from this winter

 

[JoseCuervo]

I was talking with one of the lead biologists and they said within about 10-14 hours all the deer were back to where they were captured.

This study will be valuable to help understand movements, predation, habitat preferences and a whole host of other things.

Is there some sort of "Homing Pigeon" type of ability in a deer?

How would they know where they started?

 

[LopeHunter]

Is there some sort of "Homing Pigeon" type of ability in a deer?

How would they know where they started?

I do not think anyone has shown deer will travel hundreds of miles from a transplant back to point of capture. More likely, in the capture/release in the thread, the choppers were capturing the deer very close to the research ground staff location to minimize stress from transport. The deer, once released, probably headed uphill and the terrain returned them to the same general zone. There may be a biologist or two that can chime in with actual observations.

 

[BuzzH]

That's exactly correct, still pretty cool though that they return so close to where they're captured so fast. The deer didn't always head back uphill though...this was only one of the capture locations.

Probably part of the long-term data will show that these animals habitually use pretty small areas annually during certain time of the year.

I know that from observing bull elk and buck deer and from collecting sheds, its pretty apparent, in spite of snow conditions, etc. that they use pretty small and specific areas that they're familiar with from year to year. I picked up 3 consecutive matched sets off one bull elk that dropped all 3 sets within a few hundred yards of each other. I've found the same thing with several mule deer as well.

The beauty of these GPS collars is we'll know over the next couple years what's going.

 

[El Jason]

Great pictures guys. These predator-prey interaction and migration studies are golden. GPS collars have really changed what can be done and learned from these. The information from GPS collars can really turn old paradigms upside down.

A friend of mine is a moose biologist, and has been doing some extensive collaring research in conjunction with U of M. The found a cow moose that traveled about 80 miles from its summer range to its winter range. Everyone knew that bulls travel like gangbusters, but this was a surprise to a lot of folks. In addition, his location data on how young moose disperse into a new home range was pretty fascinating.

 

[bobbydean]

Just good work. Thanks for those involved!

 

[sneakem]

Good stuff. I work on a capture crew. Here are a few of our recent catches from this winter

Pretty cool.. it's like catch and release hunting photos....

 

[JM77]

Took the grandkids out to our capture near Casper. Look forward to seeing future data on deer movements in all test areas.

 

[JohnCushman]

Awesome!

 

[jabber]

Hope you get some good data from them. Good job.

 

[Randy11]

Great work guys! Hopefully they provide some great data.

 

[publichunter1]

Awesome pics guys! Great works and thanks for sharing.

 

[hank4elk]

Cool !
I helped on a few deer & elk taggings and some turkey capture & relocations in CA w/G&F. The turkey capture was a blast,literally a net shot over a feeding area.We'd catch maybe 30 out of a hundred in a flock. Huge turkey population in my Park & actually a problem with campers & day users. Fishermen getting attacked ...lol

 

[HalfAce]

Great work! Good to hear that there are places this winter where deer are still in good body condition.