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MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
A11
Study sheds light on deer decline
By KATY NESBITT
For EO Media Group
Bobcats keep clear of
cougar kills
While looking specifi cally
at the impact of predators
on ungulates, Ruprecht said
the study provided a unique
opportunity to learn some-
thing new about carnivores.
“Generally predators are
studied solely on how they
infl uence prey, but how they
infl uence and interact with
each other was my interest,”
Ruprecht said.
The research showed lit-
tle interaction with the other
two carnivore species in the
study — black bears and bob-
cats. Based on photos, kill site
investigations and the lack of
Contributed photo
Gary Hatton poses with his 2016 Heppner Unit muzzleloader
buck.
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
The useful muzzleloader
I
Contributed photo/ODFW
A new study seeks to shed light on why mule deer are declining in Northeast Oregon.
elk found in their scat, Starkey
bobcats never scavenged on
cougar kills.
Ruprecht said bears visited
half of the cougar kill sites
monitored, but only about
one-third of the bear scat sur-
veyed contained elk. No bears
were found killed by cougars,
leading researchers to believe
there was little competition
between those two predators.
“They are scavenging, but
not like coyotes,” Ruprecht
said. “My guess is because
they use so many other food
sources there is less motiva-
tion to incur the risk by poten-
tially encountering a cougar.”
One of the takeaways,
Ruprecht said, was why cer-
tain species do scavenge.
“There is risk involved
and decisions are made under
imperfect knowledge of
the proximity of a cougar,”
Ruprecht said.
In some cases the coyote
knows the cougar is there,
Ruprecht said, incurring a lot
of risk.
“An animal who is starv-
ing is going to take more risk
to get a meal,” Ruprecht said.
Study expands on
previous research
Another reason coyotes
may be more prone to scav-
enge is they are pack animals
while bears and bobcats are
not.
“It’s the ‘many eyes, many
ears’ hypothesis,” Ruprecht
said. “They take turns scav-
enging and take turns keeping
watch — and they communi-
cate to alert others of a poten-
tial risk or hazard.”
Levi said the study is part
of a larger body of work the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife and the U.S. For-
est Service are conducting that
includes population dynam-
ics and nutrition as well as the
drastic culling of Starkey’s
three elk herds, through hunt-
ing and transplanting.
Mike Wisdom, Starkey
ungulate ecology team leader
with the Forest Service, said
the predator research related
to earlier research from the
1990s and 2000s that indi-
cated interference competition
between deer and elk.
“One species might intim-
idate another into being dis-
placed,” Wisdom said.
A series of analyses and
publications indicated elk
used the landscape in a way
that met their needs while
mule deer were avoiding elk.
Over time, elk changed their
use of the landscape, and mule
deer moved to other areas elk
were not using.
“It became a concern in the
fact that mule deer are declin-
ing in large areas at Starkey,
throughout Eastern Oregon,
and across other areas of the
U.S.,” Wisdom said.
Increasing elk populations
might be causing displace-
ment and reduction of mule
deer populations as well as
the carrying capacity of the
landscape to support them
nutritionally.
Now that the elk popu-
lation is a fraction of what it
was a few years ago, Wis-
dom said there are a lot of
diff erent possible outcomes
— improved nutrition and
body condition, behavioral
use of the land, direct interac-
tion with elk and changes in
predation.
“Predators could dissipate
and lessen their use, particu-
larly cougars, but if we reduce
that prey base of elk there may
not be a positive response —
cougars may just switch to
eating mule deer,” Wisdom
said.
Darren
Clark,
Star-
key Wildlife Research Pro-
gram leader with the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life, said for the last seven
years the big picture has been
to assess competition between
elk and mule deer. Over the
last three years the elk herd
was reduced from 550 head to
75 to see how the mule deer
respond.
According to previous
work, Clark said, the forage
available to the Starkey mule
deer doesn’t have suffi cient
calories to meet a doe’s ener-
getic demands during peak
lactation, resulting in poor
body condition.
“If deer shift habitat use,
will their body condition
and fawn survival increase?”
Clark asked.
With the elk herds reduced
by 80%, Clark said Fish and
Wildlife will gather its fi rst
data set next year from fawns
collared in 2021.
n times of thin and
conical or traditional round-
uncertainty, any tool we ball bullets. While the con-
can use to cover more
icals will give the better
than a single base is worth
performance on big game,
consideration. Right now,
many traditional muzzle-
loaders come equipped with
thanks to a wide variety of
super-slow twists, 1-60” or
hysteria-inspiring events,
1-72” for exam-
our country is expe-
ple, made for sta-
riencing yet another
bilizing a patched
fi rearms/ammuni-
round ball. A faster
tion/components
twist will be nec-
shortage. Straits
essary if you desire
aren’t so dire so
to shoot conicals.
as to be hopeless,
The 1-48” twist is a
but now might be
Dale Valade
good compromise
the time to look at
if you’d like to shoot both
alternatives.
conicals and round balls.
Black powder fi rearms,
The newer In-line designs
while not off ering the low
have the fastest twist at
maintenance and high per-
around 1-26” which works
formance we are accus-
tomed to in smokeless pow- great with conicals and with
aforementioned forbid-
der cartridge fi rearms, are
den in Oregon bullet styles.
still a formidable weapon
Having the correct twist rate
and a worthy choice for
is pivotal to having suffi -
hunting big game. While
cient accuracy. How accu-
there are muzzleloading
rate is suffi cient? Only you
designs that have benefi t-
can decide, but for me if I
ted by modern scientifi c
can’t keep three consecutive
advancements, the class I
shots inside of a six-inch
am referring to herein are
plate at 100 yards, it’s time
the traditional “Oregon-le-
to change bullets or learn to
gal” fl intlock, caplock and
sneak closer.
open ignition in-line styles.
Some I have seen could
In a nutshell, to be Ore-
get much better than six
gon-legal requires an open
inch groups at 100 yards
ignition, traditional lead
with pet loads even with
ball or lead conical pro-
traditional designs. Practice
jectiles propelled by loose
makes perfect and I am far
grain charges of powder.
from it but like all my other
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sights nor even illuminated
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sights are permitted. Pel-
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letized propellants, 209
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mer-tipped projectiles are
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shopping with these param- der a try.
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STARKEY — A study
looking into predator-prey
interaction at the Starkey
Experimental Forest and
Range in Union County
revealed fascinating insight
into more than predation
on deer and elk, such as the
dynamics between competing
carnivores.
To answer why mule deer
are declining at Starkey and
across Northeastern Oregon,
researchers are looking at pos-
sible contributors, including
the role of predators. Accord-
ing to OSU associate profes-
sor Taal Levi, who served as
an advisor to a study led by
Joel Ruprecht, a Oregon State
University wildlife science
doctoral student, the study
included collaring a sampling
of carnivores, monitoring deer
and elk kills sites via game
cameras and analyzing scat to
determine what predators liv-
ing within the 40 square mile
experimental forest and range
were eating.
The Starkey forest is
encompassed by a fence that
keeps deer and elk confi ned to
the area, which allows unique
types of research.
“Getting at the answer is a
little bit challenging because
mule deer compete with elk
and are preyed on by multiple
species,” Levi said.
Of the bears, cougars, bob-
cats and coyotes collared and
monitored, Levi said the most
interesting results occurred
between cougars and coyotes.
“We learned that while
coyotes tend to avoid cougars,
they are strongly attracted to
cougar kill sites,” he said.
Analyzing their scat pro-
vided further evidence that
coyotes are eating elk. Levi
said coyotes don’t typically
kill elk past their young calf
stage, but video recordings
showed more than 90% of
cougar kills were scavenged
by coyotes.
This method of eating out
is not without its challenges
for the opportunistic coyotes.
Levi said 7% of the dead coy-
otes discovered during the
study were found at cougar
kill sites, and between 20%
and 23% of the Starkey coy-
otes were killed by cougars.
“There’s a risk to getting a
‘free lunch,’ ” Levi said.
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