Desert mule deer movement and behavior in southwest Texas

In an effort to better understand and manage desert mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus crooki) in southwest Texas, research on breeding activity and home range was conducted from February 1990-May 1992. Motion-sensitive radio collars and an automated telemetry system were used to quantify adult activity levels during 2 years of breeding. Each breeding season was split into prerut, peak rut, and postrut periods. Activity data were analyzed for gender and period effects. Gender did not affect relative activity level during year 1 (£ < 0.2198), but males were more active than females during year 2 (£ < 0.005). During year 1, relative activity increased from prerut to peak rut to postrut (£ < 0.05). There were no differences among periods during year 2 (£ > 0.05). Of 5 possible explanations for the increased activity from prerut to postrut (day length, temperature, mate searching, increased feeding, and shifted breeding season), mate searching was supported best by the results. Adult desert mule deer were also relocated in southwest Texas from 1 June 1990-31 May 1992 to determine the effects of gender and age upon home range size and relative spatial overlap. In estimating home range size, 5 different home range estimators produced different results. During year 1, mean home range size was larger for males than females (f < 0.05) using the minimum convex polygon and 95% harmonic mean estimators, but not when using the 50 and 95% Fourier transformations and 50% harmonic mean estimators. During year 2, mean home range size was larger for males than females using all estimators (£ < 0.05). There were no age effects for any of the estimators in either year (f > 0.05). There was no year effect for deer relocated during both years (£ > 0.05). During year 1, there were no gender or age effects (£ > 0.05) on spatial overlap. During year 2, there was still 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 attributed to home range size differences being offest by differences in gender densities and a clumped distribution.