Desert mule deer movement and behavior in southwest Texas

In an effort to better understand and manage desert mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus \ncrooki) in southwest Texas, research on breeding activity and home range was conducted \nfrom February 1990-May 1992. Motion-sensitive radio collars and an automated telemetry \nsystem were used to quantify adult activity levels during 2 years of breeding. Each \nbreeding season was split into prerut, peak rut, and postrut periods. Activity data were \nanalyzed for gender and period effects. Gender did not affect relative activity level during \nyear 1 (£ < 0.2198), but males were more active than females during year 2 (£ < 0.005). \nDuring year 1, relative activity increased from prerut to peak rut to postrut (£ < 0.05). \nThere were no differences among periods during year 2 (£ > 0.05). Of 5 possible \nexplanations for the increased activity from prerut to postrut (day length, temperature, mate \nsearching, increased feeding, and shifted breeding season), mate searching was supported \nbest by the results. \nAdult desert mule deer were also relocated in southwest Texas from 1 June 1990-31 \nMay 1992 to determine the effects of gender and age upon home range size and relative \nspatial overlap. In estimating home range size, 5 different home range estimators produced \ndifferent results. During year 1, mean home range size was larger for males than females \n(f < 0.05) using the minimum convex polygon and 95% harmonic mean estimators, but not \nwhen using the 50 and 95% Fourier transformations and 50% harmonic mean estimators. \nDuring year 2, mean home range size was larger for males than females using all estimators \n(£ < 0.05). There were no age effects for any of the estimators in either year (f > 0.05). \nThere was no year effect for deer relocated during both years (£ > 0.05). During year 1, \nthere were no gender or age effects (£ > 0.05) on spatial overlap. During year 2, there was \nstill no gender effect (£ > 0.05) but there was an age effect (£ < 0.05) which was attributed to animals on the study area periphery. The lack of overlap difference between genders was \nattributed to home range size differences being offest by differences in gender densities and \na clumped distribution.