Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of NC-1005 occurred on January 20 and 21, 2006 on the campus of the Arbor Day Foundation in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Following a review and approval of minutes from 2005 meeting there was discussion of a plan to for 2007 RFP after RFP was published in October 2006. Updates of each states actives were presented (details in minutes) for the following states: Illinois (Schauber), Iowa (Clark), Michigan (Riley, Campa), Nebraska (Hygnstrom and Vercauteren), Wisconsin (Mathews). The group identified six papers were for preparation. Of these, 4 were outlined with major questions and data sources identified (see minutes). Lead authors were identified. During 2006, the following members will serve as leaders: Scott Hygnstrom (chair), Shawn Riley (vice-chair), Kurt Vercauteren (secretary). All participants attended a half day field trip to DeSoto where Scotts students presented overviews of their research and lead us on a tour of their study area.

Objective 1: Assess dynamic interactions among physical landscape characteristics and white-tailed deer demographics. Relationships among recruitment, mortality, movement patterns and landscape characteristics are being assessed by participants in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Illinois. Michigan reported higher mortality in this study (where the study site is dominated by public land) than a pervious study conducted in southern Michigan (where the study site was dominated by private land). Michigan and Illinois each reported that canids, probably coyotes, were responsible for multiple fawn mortalities. In the exurban environment, Illinois reported that deer avoided dwellings during fawning season, but less so during other seasons. Deer used linear strips of developed areas with edge associated with them. Some patterns may be emerging with respect to home range size and landscape characteristics. In the mixed agricultural-suburban-forested areas of southern Wisconsin and southern Michigan, home ranges seem small relative to other areas. In Wisconsin, work has begun on relating habitat selection and deer behavior to abiotic transmission of CWD. Various kinds of movements are being documented in several states. These include permanent dispersal, temporary exploratory movements, and in some cases, migratory behavior. Several collaring techniques are being examined for estimating fawn and adult survival. Michigan incorporated the use of fawn drop-off collars. Illinois has variable success with GPS collars designed to drop of individuals to facilitate data retrieval. Objective 2: Assess dynamic interactions among human dimensions characteristics of the landscape, wildlife stakeholder acceptance capacity (WSAC), and white-tailed deer demographics and management. In both Michigan and New York, participants have worked directly with landowners (including farmers and exurbanites) and deer hunters to assess the impacts from white-tailed deer that are deemed most important. Participants from Michigan examined the perspectives on deer hunting in the Detroit Metro area, in agro-forest land, on state and privately owned land. They also examined ex-urbanites and new land owners on their perspectives on deer hunting, presence, deer-vehicle collisions. In general, there is a tension impacting management due to land owners who want deer but fear them as well. Objective 3: Develop communication and outreach strategies from the research findings to assist in white-tailed deer management. In all participating states, researchers are collaborating with state wildlife staff to make informed management decisions ranging from refinement of hunting regulations, to development of communication and education strategies for landowners and motorists, to interventions to curb the spread of CWD and other diseases. State wildlife personnel, landowners, and hunters have been involved directly in development of research plans in both Michigan and New York, based on needs that stakeholders identified. Our plans for next year include writing manuscripts to facilitate collaboration and document findings from the project. Specific participants have developed an outline and synopsis for each of 4 manuscripts. The leaders also are responsible for developing a time line and set of assignments to ensure completion of the manuscripts. All participants will have the opportunity to review each outline and decide if and how they can contribute to that manuscript.

Skuldt, L. 2005. Influence of landscape pattern, deer density, and deer harvest on white-tailed deer behavior in south-central Wisconsin. Unpublished M.S. Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. 137 p. Oyer, A. M., N. E. Mathews, L. H. Skuldt. Long-range movement of a female white-tailed deer from a Chronic Wasting Disease-infected area. (Accepted J. Wildlife Management). Skuldt, L. H., N. E. Mathews, and A. M. Oyer. Influence of habitat, harvest and deer density on movements and dispersal of white-tailed deer in South-Central Wisconsin. (Submitted to Journal of Wildlife Management). Skuldt, L. H., N. E. Mathews, and A. M. Oyer. Homerange characteristics of white-tailed deer in relation to landscape features, deer density and deer harvest in a Chronic Wasting Disease management area. (In Prep for Journal of Wildlife Management).