Stoner, David; Clark, Debbie; Bufton, Ali (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Stoner, David (S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, Wildland Resources Department)
A challenge facing Utah mule deer is habitats with older shrubs and little to no regeneration of young plants, or habitats being replaced with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)—both in critical winter ranges. Forested habitats provide cover but when there is little understory, there isn't enough forage. Hunting funds the management of big game animals. If there is inadequate funding, there will not be funding for habitat. Thus population objectives will not be met. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) may alter activity schedule during the hunting season by selecting restricted hunter access areas, including agricultural lands. Here we test the hypothesis that deer alter activity schedules in space (accessible and WILD sites) and time in response to human presence. We defined WILD as being further than 100 meters away from a human or OHV trail, or road. Our research question asks if accessible roads have an effect on mule deer activity schedule in response to hunting pressure, as indexed by access differences. We predicted that increased human activity during the hunting season would cause reduced deer activity during daylight. We expect more deer detections in September, less in October (hunting season), and an increase in November during the rut. Spatially we expect higher buck detection rates in remote areas, with no change in activity schedule, or are active in the day. The study area is in the Bear River Range east of Logan, Utah. We are using Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) Sampling Design. We used camera trap data from October 2017 through December 2017 to measure (1) detection rates of bucks (photos/camera-day), and (2) activity times (diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal) by sex-age class. We controlled for habitat type by grouping cameras within common elevation bands and plant communities. Reduced hunter success may result in decreased hunting interest with economic implications for mule deer conservation.