Theses and Dissertations

Author

Todd M. Kautz

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Belant, Jerrold L.

Committee Member

Beyer, Dean E., Jr.

Committee Member

Strickland, Bronson K.

Date of Degree

12-14-2018

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract

I monitored cause-specific mortality and factors influencing mortality risk for white-tailed deer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA, during two high mortality risk periods: adult female deer during Feb–May, and fawns from birth to 6 months. I observed high rates of predation and starvation for adult female deer during Apr–May, suggesting that late winter represents a survival bottleneck due to nutritional declines. A strong negative relationship existed between snow free days during late winter and mortality risk. Predation was the dominant mortality source for fawns but predation risk decreased with larger birth mass. Black bears and coyotes accounted for most fawn kills at the population level, but wolves and bobcats had greatest per-individual fawn kill rates. My results suggest predation was the dominant mortality source for fawns and adult female deer, but multiple predator species were important and nutritional condition of deer influenced their vulnerability to predation.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18709

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