Mountain Lions and Deer Kills – Predators of Whitetail

There are many predators of the white-tailed deer, but none is as exciting or mysterious as the famed mountain lion. Mountain lions are big cats that can effectively take down any size deer, buck or doe, both sick or healthy. A mountain lion requires about 8 to 10 pounds of meat per day to survive. The lion’s diet consists of mule deer, elk, small mammals, livestock, white-tailed deer and even pets.

Generally speaking, mountain lions prefer deer. Research has found that mountain lions can kill a deer about every 9 to 14 days, but in some locations it has been found that a lion kills as many as two deer per week, especially in hot weather. This is because many other secondary predators and scavengers move into to consume what the lion has left, forcing the lion to hunt sooner than it would have consumed the kill by itself.

Mountain Lions are Predators of Deer

Source: “Once mountain lions inhabited the entire US it was believed that whitetails were a big part of their diet. Today, most mountain lions, also known as cougars or pumas, solely inhabit the Western US, where they prey upon the mule deer. However, in the Northern US and other isolated areas, mountain lion still stumble upon a few whitetails from time to time. Whitetail deer are also beginning to more westward and as a result, may become a larger part of the mountain lions diet in a few years.

Once it spots a deer, the mountain lion will quietly stalk it until it slowly closes the distance to within about 10 yards. Then, with a swift charge, it will pounce on the deer’s back, attempting to sink its sharp teeth into the deer’s neck. The weight and strength of the lion, along with the delivered wound, render the deer dead in a few minutes. Mountain lions usually attack from above in an effort to knock the deer on the ground.

Immediately after killing the deer, the lion will usually expose the guts and eat them. It will then drag the carcass to a safe hiding place where it will feed on it over the course of a few days. On average, a mountain lion needs to kill a deer every 4 to 6 days.

Although they are capable of killing the largest bucks with ease, mountain lions will usually target younger, weaker, and malnourished deer first. This helps the lion conserve its energy, especially during the winter, when energy is precious. A lion will only attack a large deer if it absolutely must.”

Mountain lions usually carry or drag their prey to a secluded area under cover to feed. As one would expect, drag marks are frequently found at fresh kill sites. Lions generally begin feeding on internal organs such as the liver, heart, and lungs first. They typically enter through the abdomen or thorax when first consuming a kill, but some feed on the neck, shoulder or hindquarters first. At many lion kills sites, the stomach of the deer will be removed and found buried nearby.

Mountain lions frequently try to cache their kill by covering it with soil, leaves, grass and sticks. Lions may eviscerate prey and cover the viscera separately from the rest of the carcass. Even where little debris is available, bits of soil, rock, grass or sticks may be found on the carcass. Mountain lions are efficient predators of deer and have no problem taking mature bucks. They are strong and can move their kills quite a substantial distance.

Rubbing Post for Bucks & Whitetail Hunting

Most of the white-tailed bucks in our area have already rubbed the velvet off of their antlers. They are all hard-horned now and that got me thinking. I recall sometime ago watching a deer hunting show on television and the host and hunter placed out an antler rubbing post to draw bucks to within bow range. This was done by creating an artificial buck rub location by using a real tree, but it involved digging a hole and putting the post exactly where you wanted it. Seemed like a great way to get the job done, especially for positioning while archery hunting.

The antler rubbing post strategy involves planting a vertical log in your shooting lane or food plot. Place the post about 24 to 30 inches deep and tamp it into the ground so that a big buck does not just destroy your little tinker toy project before the deer hunting season. Also, it is important to leave a licking branch on it for bucks to use as well, where the animals can leave some additional scent either before or after rubbing the make-shift rubbing post. Continue reading Rubbing Post for Bucks & Whitetail Hunting

Piebald Deer: Photos and Information

Reader Submitted: “My four month old pup and I have been trying to track this “white deer” nightly that we spotted a few weeks ago. Out on our third floor balcony of my apartment, we both heard crashing through the woods. Out in the distance, I see the piebald deer with a large herd. I run inside my place to grab my camera and mount the telephoto lens since the deer was so far out. Turn camera on, point… camera is dead. I ran inside, put the battery on charge and hope I get a little bit of juice to shoot with as I wait for the deer to get closer.

All of a sudden, a buck breaks free and tears through the woods. I run inside, grab the battery, pop it in cam and wait. About 20 seconds later, the rest of deer follow up behind him. By some luck, the camera had enough juice to snap a few quick photos of the piebald before dying completely. My puppy was at my heels barking at the deer the entire time. Continue reading Piebald Deer: Photos and Information

Wildlife Management Using Drones, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

It seems drones will have some very useful applications when it comes to wildlife management. The U.S. Geological Survey started using unmanned aircraft for wildlife and land management work about two years ago. Its first Nevada mission, planned for August or September, involves counting sheep and deer within the Desert National Wildlife Refuge north of Las Vegas. What used to require a helicopter and thousands of dollars’ worth of fuel can now be done with some fresh batteries and what looks like an elaborate toy plane no bigger than a turkey vulture.

Mike Hutt, who heads up the Geological Survey’s National Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office in Denver, said there has been a “groundswell” of Department of Interior drone use in recent years, as cash-strapped field offices look for ways to do more work with less money. In coming months, the USGS plans to use unmanned aircraft to track eagles and trumpeter swans in Idaho and Washington state, spot invasive plants at Utah’s Zion National Park and search the Oregon coast for debris from the 2011 tsunami that struck Japan.

Hutt said that his agency got its first military-surplus UAS in 2009 and flew its first real mission in 2011. His office now has about a dozen missions under its belt, with at least nine more planned later this year. Widening domestic use of unmanned aircraft comes as the American Civil Liberties Union and others call for clear policies and restrictions designed to prevent the creation of a “surveillance society.”

Hutt is sensitive to privacy concerns and says virtually all his office’s work takes place on public land: “When we fly we let people in the local area know and invite them out. We try to be as transparent as possible.” With rare exception, the UAS operate at no more than 400 feet altitude and at least five miles from the nearest home. “We don’t fly over populated areas,” Hutt said. In fact, they rarely fly over private property. When they do, they get written permission from the land owner in advance. They also have to get Federal Aviation Administration clearance.

The Geological Survey now has unmanned aircraft systems stationed in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Montana, and uses two types of aircraft: a battery-powered, fixed-wing airplane called the Raven and a gas-burning helicopter called the THawk. Neither resembles an advanced, unmanned warplane such as the Predator or the Reaper. These look more like something you might buy in a hobby shop.

The Raven weighs less than five pounds and measures less than five feet from wing tip to wing tip. It is easily lifted with one hand and launched into the air the way you might toss a paper airplane. It flies quietly, but landings are rarely pretty. The plane is designed to break apart on impact to avoid permanent damage, so there is often some assembly required before the next flight. At 18 pounds, the THawk is heavier and less graceful in the air, but it provides more stable images because it can hover. The tradeoff comes in the form of noise and general obnoxiousness.

“It sounds like a chainsaw flying overhead,” Hutt says. “It’s been described as a flying trash can.” “The Raven is pretty fun,” said Jeff Sloan, a cartographer by trade who now gets to steer unmanned airplanes with a handheld controller any young hobbyist would probably recognize. “I imagine teenagers are better at flying them than us older guys.”

The THawk is steered with a laptop computer.Both systems are small and light enough for easy transport. Depending on how far they have to go for a mission, operators either transport the aircraft to the site by ground or ship them by overnight mail.

The Raven tends to be better for wildlife work because it is quieter, though operators have been surprised by the reaction — or lack of one — they have gotten so far from some of their THawk surveillance subjects.

“We flew 75 feet over sandhill cranes, and they didn’t seem to pay any attention to us as they roosted at night,” Hutt recalls. “I think critters in the field grow to accept certain things as a threat, and they don’t see us as a threat yet.”

Last month, Sloan and company traveled to Mojave National Preserve in California, about 80 miles south of Las Vegas, where they scanned several square miles from the air in search of trash piles and illegal dump sites for eventual cleanup.

After looking at the high-resolution pictures from the UAS, the staff at the desert park dreamed up other uses for the images, including a Joshua tree inventory and a study of invasive weed concentrations.

Sloan says that happens a lot. Once people see what the machines are capable of, they want more. “‘Can you do this while you’re up there?’ That’s pretty typical,” he said. “Really the applications are limitless.” Hutt said that UAS could prove useful for finding missing hikers, spotting wildfires, monitoring crops, refining maps, surveying archaeological sites and inspecting canals, power lines, pipelines, fences and dams.

Already, biologists use them for surveys and management for protected species, including some that seem too small and well-camouflaged to be spotted from the air. Sloan recently used UAS outfitted with thermal and high-definition cameras to identify and count sage grouse in Colorado. The birds are about the size of an average chicken, but the crew was able to spot them from 150 feet above. “I didn’t think it would work,” Hutt says. Once the FAA approves a mission, the UAS team can deploy in just a few days.

The work is done on the cheap by using off-the-shelf equipment such as the high-definition cameras now favored by skydivers, snowboarders and dirtbike riders who like to film their death-defying stunts. They have “close to zero maintenance and operational costs,” so a weeklong mission like the one planned in Nevada can be done for as little as $3,000 in labor expenses.

The standard way of counting bighorn sheep and mule deer — namely by putting people in a helicopter — typically costs $20,000 to $40,000, Hutt says. After an initial count in August or September, the crew will likely return to the desert north of Las Vegas next spring for a follow-up count of newborn lambs and fawns.

Deer Management for Wildlife Diversity, Wildlife Management

If enjoy wildlife and native plants then it may be time to revisit deer management. Let’s face it, not every landowner has the same passion for white-tailed deer that many others do. They still however desire to have wildlife on their property. Some have never hunted and may never have plans to hunt deer. In fact, the thought of removing any wildlife from their property may seem counterintuitive to their goals of attracting wildlife. It is important for any landowner to understand that in order to provide the habitat necessary to attract a variety of wildlife you will likely have to become involved in deer management as part of an overall wildlife management program.

This does not mean that landowners must manage for trophy bucks, but all property owners should be concerned with deer population management. One of the biggest culprits of poor habitat conditions is the white-tailed deer. Deer eat plants and there is only a limited amount of them on a given piece of property. If deer populations are allowed to grow beyond the lands capacity to support those animals then you will begin to see a reduction in biomass, or plant material such as leaves and stems. Over just a short period of time this can greatly alter the habitat — the habitat used by both deer and other wildlife species. Continue reading Deer Management for Wildlife Diversity, Wildlife Management

Wildlife Management: Distance Surveys for Whitetail Deer

Wildlife Management Topic: “Aerial Vertical-Looking Infrared Imagery to Evaluate Bias of Distance Sampling Techniques for White-tailed Deer.”

Researchers: Jared T. Beaver, Craig A. Harper – University of Tennessee; Robert E. Kissell, Jr. – University of Arkansas; Lisa I. Muller, Peyton S. Basinger, Matthew J. Goode – University of Tennessee

Deer population monitoring is an important consideration when managing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Distance survey sampling has been used to estimate population density, and has been applied to ground thermal infrared sensing (ground imaging) and spotlight surveys to overcome limitations with these techniques. However, surveys are usually along roads, which may violate a critical assumption of distance sampling and bias density estimates. Continue reading Wildlife Management: Distance Surveys for Whitetail Deer

Deer with Long Hooves – Foundering in Whitetail

There have been a number of times when hunters and landowners have encountered deer with long hooves. White-tailed deer are candidates for a variety of ailments, but foundering in deer can happen for a variety of reasons. In fact, deer with longer than normal hooves is not uncommon at all. From what I have seen through the years of deer hunting and management is that foundering can result from several factors.

Ranches out in West Texas or game ranches that feed lots of corn tend to produce deer with hoof problems. Also, years with drought or even those with especially high temperatures and high winds tend to dry out the land. Foundering often occurs purely because grain intake is too high for whitetail deer. Deer that live solely at spin-cast feeders will consume too much corn. This is especially common when natural foods are in low availability. A deer’s diet should consist primarily of forbs and browse , but these foods can become very limited in areas with high deer densities or during extreme dry periods. Continue reading Deer with Long Hooves – Foundering in Whitetail