ESTIMATING THE SURVIVAL RATES OF MALE DEER IN WISCONSIN

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0224170
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2010
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2015
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF WISCONSIN
21 N PARK ST STE 6401
MADISON,WI 53715-1218

Performing Department
Forest and Wildlife Ecology

Non Technical Summary
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has identified a set of applied deer research projects that address concerns raised by the citizens of Wisconsin regarding the size and ecological impact of Wisconsin's deer herd. Management of deer to balance the impacts of overabundance (agricultural damage, silvicultural damage) with the benefits of a healthy deer population requires estimates of population size that are rigorous and transparent. Estimates of the size of Wisconsin's deer herd remain very contentious, but precise and accurate estimates are difficult to secure and such estimates are subject to substantial annual fluctuation. This project uses state-of-the art field techniques to estimate the mortality patterns of male deer because these patterns are especially important to the estimation technique and have not been estimated empirically. The outcomes of this research include improved understanding of the seasonal and spatial variation in mortality leading to population estimates that are more accurate.

Animal Health Component

60%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

60%

Developmental

30%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
135	0830	1070	80%
136	0830	1070	20%

Knowledge Area
135 - Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife; 136 - Conservation of Biological Diversity;

Subject Of Investigation
0830 - Wild animals;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

white tailed deer

population estimation

mortaility

survival

radio telemetry

mark

recapture

wisconsin

Goals / Objectives
This study is designed to obtain rigorous estimates of Buck Recovery Rates (BRR) and identify their role in establishing overall deer density estimates and management goals in Wisconsin. Specific project objectives include: 1) identifying and estimating the specific components of BRR, especially buck survival and cause-specific mortality, across replicated study areas, and 2) establish a complementary three-pronged approach (telemetry, mark-recapture, age structure) that will capture the effects of temporal and habitat variation on estimates of BRR - this was a specific recommendation by the review panel who studied Wisconsin's estimation model, and 3) establish a cost-effective method for monitoring changes in BRR for use in establishing region-specific deer management goals based on improved herd density estimates.

Project Methods
We intend to use a complementary 3 technique approach (radio telemetry, mark-recapture, age structure assessment) to evaluate potential estimation biases inherent in any single approach (e.g. hunter bias, small sample bias), to capture temporal variations and habitat effects on survival and harvest rates, and to evaluate a cost-effective method for monitoring change in harvest rates (e.g. age structure) after the formal research has ended. Radio Telemetry monitoring of buck survival will be the primary research technique used for this project. Beginning during winter 2009-2010, the WDNR has begun capturing fawn, yearling, and adult male deer at multiple (i.e., 3-5) winter concentration areas within the Northern Forest and Eastern Farmland study sites. They will capture and ear tag approximately 100 male deer and radio-collar 30-50 male deer each winter using Stephenson box (McNulty et al. 1997) operated between 1 January and 31 March 2009-2013, and checked twice daily). Captured deer will be fitted with mortality sensing radio collars (Advanced Telemetry Systems, Inc., Isanti, MN), aged by tooth wear and replacement (Severinghaus 1949), and allowed to exit through a small opening in one door (Rongstad and McCabe 1984, Haulton et al. 2001. Deer will be re-located 2-3 times per week using ground-based and aerial radio telemetry; deaths occurring ≤ 28 days post-capture will be considered capture-related mortalities (Bartsch et al. 1977). Radio telemetry efforts will continue between 2009-2011 while ear-tagging and mark-recapture efforts will occur between 2009-2013. Conventional statistical analyses (Heisey and Fuller 1985, White and Burnham 1999, Williams et al. 2001) will be used to describe temporal and cause-specific mortality patterns in age-specific mortality. Mark-Recapture techniques will involve some 100 ear-tagged male deer throughout this study. Deer will be ear-tagged to affix radio collars described under 'radio telemetry' above. Annual survival will be estimated from age- and year-specific encounter rates of ear-tagged deer that are reported at hunter check stations using appropriate Mark-Recapture models in program MARK (White and Burnham 1999). Age Structure Analyses will use the harvest age structure developed from the Deer Management Units (DMUs) surrounding the telemetry and mark-recapture study areas to estimate age-specific mortality following the demographic analysis techniques described in Williams et al. (2001) and Skalski et al. (2005). Departure from concurrent telemetry- and mark-recapture-based estimates will be used to evaluate age structure analysis of harvest data as a cost-effective means of estimating survival.

Progress 10/01/10 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience include state and federal agencies responsible for deer management, interested stakeholders, and the scientific community. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project contributed to the training of 3 graduate students in the department of wildlife ecology and provided field training to 50 or more field workers, most of whom were undergraduate wildlife students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results are contained in a Ph.D. dissertation that has been approved and deposited in the UW library. It is available to University researchers through academic libraries. Copies of the dissertation have been prodvided to the Wisconsin Department of Natural resources. Several journal articles are being prepared. Results have been communicated to the scientific and management professional communities through several contributed papers and 5 contributed posters. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We captured and handled 1,592 individual deer (2011- 2014) distributed between 641 trapping locations (>100 m apart) across two study areas in Wisconsin. One study area was chosen to represent a primarily agricultural landscape and one was chosen to represent a primarily forested landscape. We radio collared a total of 1,001 deer across 501 different trapping locations, which consisted of 499 radio collared deer in the forested study area and 502 radio collared deer in the agricultural study area. We marked another 591 deer with ear tags only, 221 in the agricultural study area and 370 in the forested study area. Using telemetry, we estimated >40,000 locations from radio collared deer. Each year (2011 - 2014) we monitored a mean of 138 deer (min. = 87, max. = 175) ≥6 months old in the agricultural study area and 143 deer (min. = 105, max. = 191) ≥6 months old in the forested study area. The temporal patterns of locations associated with live deer and with death events that were classified probabilistically with cause of death were used to estimate the buck recovery rate and the confounding rates of mortality associated with capture, predation, car-collision and other factors (Objective 1, Chapters 2 and 3 in Norton 2015). In hunting season mortality, the key component of the buck recovery rate was 0.48 (95% CI: 0.42 - 0.55) in the forested study area and was not related to age. Hunting season mortality in agricultural habitat was 0.54 (0.46 - 0.63) for sub-adult males and 0.67 (0.59 - 0.75) for adult male. Empirical mortality data and the age structure of harvested deer were used to parameterize an integrated population model that predicted population trend and associated precision (Objectives 2 and 3, Chapter 4 in Norton 2015). This model was validated against simulated datasets with known population trend and applied examples were provided for use by managers.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. Michigan Technological University, April 3 2015, Houghton, MI. A deer nerd looks at wolf hunting in Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. University of Wisconsin  Stevens Point Wisconsin Institute for Wildlife - Research Colloquium, March 26, 2015. Stevens Point, WI. A deer nerd looks at wolf hunting in Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. Illinois Natural History Survey, March 17 2015. Champaign, IL. A deer nerd looks at wolf hunting in Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. Wisconsin DNR, Deer population metrics committee, October 6 2014. Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Statistical Age-at-Harvest Models.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. Biology Colloquium, University of Wisconsin  Whitewater. April 11 2014. Wolves, bears, deer, hunters, and other trivialities in Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Workshop on Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development in Sichuan Province of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Peoples Republic of China. March 17 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. Conservation and the recovery of a top carnivore in Wisconsin USA. School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China. March 22 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Deer, wolves and humans in Wisconsin, USA. T. R. Van Deelen Comments to T. R. Van Deelen. Wisconsins Natural Resources Board on science and deer management, October 22 2013, Madison, Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen, J. L. Stenglein, A. S. Norton, B. Peterson, C. Warbington, D. J. Storm, and K. J. Martin. The Wildlife Society, 20th Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 9 2013. Climate and local deer migrations.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: C. Warbington, T. Van Deelen, K. Martin, A. S. Norton, and J. Stenglein. The Wildlife Society, 20th Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 9 2013. Linking bedsite selection, summer weather, and weekly survival of neonatal white-tailed deer.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: A. S. Norton, D. Heisey, T. R. Van Deelen, M. Watt, and K. J. Martin. The Wildlife Society, 20th Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 9 2013. A Bayesian approach to estimating white-tailed deer abundance using an integrated age-at-harvest model.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: C. H. Warbington, T. R. Van Deelen, K. Martin, A. Norton, C. N. Jacques, J. Stenglein, and M. Watt. Cause-specific mortality of neo-natal white-tailed deer in different ecological contexts.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: A. Norton, T. Van Deelen, M. Watt, and K. Martin. Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Wisconsin Dells, WI, March 14 2013. Preliminary survival rates for adult male white-tailed deer in Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: C. Warbington, T. Van Deelen, C. Jacques, K. Martin, A. Norton, J. Stenglein, and M. Watt Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Wisconsin Dells, WI, March 14 2013. Cause-specific mortality of neonatal deer in different ecological contexts. (Awarded Best Student Presentation).
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: C. Warbington, T. Van Deelen, C. Jacques, K. Martin, A. Norton, and M. Watt. 73rd Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Wichita, KS, December 10 2012. Cause-specific mortality of neonatal white-tailed deer in different ecological contexts.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: T. R. Van Deelen. University of Wisconsin, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. Madison, WI, November 2, 2012. Wolves, hunters, bears, and other trivialities in Wisconsin.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: B. Peterson, D. J. Storm, and T. R. Van Deelen. Dispersal of yearling male white-tailed deer in Wisconsin. Poster presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society, Winnipeg, Manitoba. October 19 2015.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: A. S. Norton, T. R. Van Deelen, M. Watt, R. Walrath, D. Storm, and D. Heisey. Winter Meeting of The Wisconsin Chapter of The Wildlife Society, March 12 2014, Wausau, Wisconsin. A Bayesian approach to estimating white-tailed deer abundance using an integrated age-at-harvest model.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: B. Peterson, D. Storm, T. Van Deelen, and A. Norton. Dispersal of yearling male white-tailed deer in Wisconsin. Poster presented at the 75th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Indianapolis IN, 8-11 February 2015.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: A. S. Norton, D. Heisey, J. Stenglein, R. Walrath, D. Storm, and T. R. Van Deelen. 21st Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society, October 27 2014. Accounting for uncertainty in event classification from time-to-event cause-specific mortality models.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: B. E. Peterson, D. J. Storm, T. R. Van Deelen, and A. S. Norton. Yearling male white-tailed deer dispersal behavior in Wisconsin. Poster presented at the 21st Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society, October 27 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: C. H. Warbington, T. R. Van Deelen, K. J. Martin, A. Norton, C. N. Jacques, J. L. Stenglein, and M. Watt. Cause-specific mortality of neonatal white-tailed deer in different ecological contexts. Poster presented at The Wildlife Society, 20th Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 9 2013.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: C. Warbington, T. Van Deelen, K. Martin, A. Norton, J. Stenglein, and M. Watt. Cause-specific mortality of neonatal white-tailed deer in different ecological contexts. Poster presented at the 73rd Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, December 10-12, 2012. Wichita, KS.

Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences include: the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (key collaborator), Wisconsin citizens who have an interest in deer management, and the scientific wildlife conservation community. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project contributed to the training of a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? From the Wisconsin DNR email list, project updates are sent regularly to stakeholders who are interested in the research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In the final year, the student will complete the analysis and their dissertation. We will work with collaborators to communicate findings to stakeholders, through press releases, presentations and reports and to the scientific community through papers, scientific meetings and manuscripts that will be submitted for publication.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We continued to collect field data needed to meet these goals through the capture, radio-tracking, and monitoring of deer in the 2 project study areas, as planned. Activities during the project period included, the capture of 141 deer in the eastern WI study area (122 were radio-collared) and 240 deer in the northern Wisconsin study area (137 radio-collared). The captures occured during the late winter and early spring 2014 and deer were monitored weekly until their signal was lost or they had died.

Publications

Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences included the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board and other stakeholders (hunters, landowners) with an interest in deer management. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project is providing for the on-going mentorship of 2 UW-Madison graduate students (1 Ph.D., 1M.S.) and is supporting the training and experience of roughly 10 LTE field technitians, most of who are recently graduated undergraduate students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We are in near constant contact with DNR collaborators and decision makers, in addition we have conducted training and community events in both study areas to thank our volunteers and to maintain connection to cooperating landowners and volunteers. Graduate students have presented results at Kemp Natural Research Station, and at the annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society in Milwaukee. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We monitored 55 yearling and 52 adult male deer in our northern Wisconsin study area and 62 yearling and 49 adult male deer in our farmalnd study area using radion telemetry. We documented mortality events and estimated proximate causes of mortality based on necropsy and evidence at the site of the kill. This effort is contributing to a larger dataset on deer mortality. In the northern forest study area, 19 of 29 (66%) fawns survived through August. We have documented 10 mortality events, including 8 predations (2 coyote, 2 bear, 4 bobcat), and one unknown mortality. In the eastern farmland study area, 36 of 49 (78%) fawns survived to September. Of 13 mortality events, 3 mortalities were classified as predation (1 coyote, 1 bobcat, 1 domestic dog), 8 starvations, and 2 unknown. We are awaiting necropsy results on the 2 unknown mortalities, both of which were found unconsumed.

Publications

Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities: We captured, monitored, and determined cause-specific mortality for white-tailed deer across two study areas, each approximately 1,500 square miles. During December, we provided a 2-week training and orientation session for 12 new Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) Limited-term Employees. The training included orientation, deer capture and monitoring techniques, wildlife chemical immobilization, blood draw training, ATV and trailering training, and first-aid/CPR training. Additionally, we created a white-tailed deer research technician field manual. Products: We captured and marked 200 adult white-tailed deer and 108 newborn deer, monitored and estimated 6,312 telemetry locations for 335 deer, and investigated cause-specific mortality for 150 deer. Our database was updated to include a total of 768 unique deer captured, 10,966 telemetry deer location records, and 409 cause-specific mortality records over 2 years. PARTICIPANTS: Individual: Timothy R. Van Deelen (PI) and Andrew Norton (graduate student); Partner Organizations and collaborators: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include the Professional Wildlife Management community, the deer management team within the Department of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin citizens with an interest in the conservation of Wisconsin's deer populations and the natural resources impacted by deer. Efforts to reach these audiences included a 1.5 hour lecture regarding our deer research to a class from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 5 outreach presentations to the Wisconsin Local Union Group 139, the Wisconsin Wolf River branch of the Quality Deer Management Association, the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association Wolf River Chapter, and landowners and volunteers in each of our two study areas. This was distributed via a WDNR news release. In addition, we distributed a WDNR news release to inform hunters of the deer research being conducted across our two study areas. Additionally, we distributed over a dozen harvest reporting binders to deer harvest registration stations across our two study areas. We created and delivered 34 deer location maps to hunters for harvested research deer. Finally, we updated our White-tailed Deer Research Projects Website (http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/research/whitetaileddeer.htm l). Specifically, we added hundreds of photographs, provided a link to our annual newsletter and research flyer, and provided 5 informative maps regarding deer movement and behavior. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Change in Knowledge: More than 500 volunteers and 100 landowners assisted with adult and newborn white-tailed deer capture efforts where efforts were made by research crews to educate and inform interested citizens. A citizen group initiated independent deer capture efforts in collaboration with our ongoing research.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities included: Capture of 359 adult and yearling deer using Stephenson box traps, netted cage traps, drop nets, and helicopter net guns. Of 151 adult females captured, 86 were radiocollared; 83 of 86 (radiocollared) females were implanted with vaginal implant transmitters (VITs). One-hundred four fawns were captured during mid-May through mid-June 2011, including 68 and 36 in eastcentral and northern Wisconsin, respectively.Twenty-two of 38 (58%) VIT searches resulted in the location of 22 fawns. Events included: Thirty-two project presentations, 5 radio shows, 10 television programs/interviews were conducted during 2010/2011. Services: None to report. Products: None to report. Dissemination occurred through 10,000 project information brochures that were developed and distributed throughout northern and eastcentral Wisconsin during fall 2011. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals include: Timothy R. Van Deelen, Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Project PI. Andrew Norton, Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Research Assistant with responsibility for study design, field work and logistics. Partner Organizations include: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and The Wisconsin Conservation Congress. Collaborators include Dr. Christopher Jacques (WI DNR, Co-PI), Dr. Karl Martin (WI DNR) and Dr. Mike Riggle (WI CC). TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
There are no outcomes to report.

Publications

• No publications reported this period