Response of Kaibab Mule Deer to Management of Summer Range
Hungerford CR. 1970. Response of Kaibab Mule Deer to Management of Summer Range. The Journal of Wildlife Management. 34(4):852-862
The 400,000-acre summer range of the Kaibab mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) has been changed by seeding, logging, fire, and range treatment. From 1962 through 1968, the summer composition of food plants was measured by line intercept transects and the deer's choice of food plants by the feeding-minutes method. Planted grasses were an important food early in summer, fungi in late summer, and trees, shrubs, and forbs were found to be used throughout the summer. Plant succession replaced planted species with native plants most rapidly in mixed conifer forest and least rapidly in burned areas. The reseeding practices, financed from hunter fees but performed on National Forest lands, resulted in improved summer deer condition and a 24.5 percent better fawn crop. The deer accepted the modified habitat slowly and yearling animals were often the first to appear in new feeding areas.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Hungerford, C
- Units
- GRCA
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Forest Management, Mammals, Mule Deer, Wildlife habitat improvement