252 



^ 



Most of the mule deer observed In winter were In grassland habitats, 

 Phillips (1978) described winter ranges In the region as mainly 

 scattered stands of Juniper or ponderosa pine. The discrepancy 

 Is probably due to two factors: 1) not all of the mule deer were 

 on their normal winter ranges. Lack of snow cover would make 

 grassland areas more available than normal. 2) Only the edges 

 near the Tongue River Reservoir of three winter ranges were 

 covered In this survey. All three winter ranges extended away 

 from the reservoir Into higher, more heavily timbered hills. 

 Incomplete coverage of a winter range can give distorted views 

 of habitat use. 



Activity - *The majority of mule deer were feeding at the time 

 of observation in all seasons except winter (Table l42). In 

 winter half of the deer were either standing or laying. This 

 is similar to deer behavior on other study areas. 



Table l42. Seasonal activity of mule deer In the Tongue River 

 Dam study area. 



Spring Summer PaTT Winter Spring Summer 



Activity 



f 



Standing/sitting 



Running 



Laying 



Feeding 



Walking 



Total observed 



Use of topography - Table l43 shows the percentages of mule deer 

 observed on different topographic features. Some of the same 

 trends discussed earlier show up here. Higher proportions of 

 mule deer were on flood plains in summer and fall than in other 

 seasons. The proportion of mule deer on dissected mid-slopes 

 was lowest in fall, when most deer were on flood plains. More 

 deer were observed on mesa-butte tops in spring and winter, than 

 in other seasons. 



Use of exposure ; Fairly high proportions of mule deer were 

 observed on flat areas (Table 144) during most seasons. There 

 did not appear to be any clear-cut trends in distribution among 

 the exposures. East-facing exposures appeared to be used less 

 than west-facing exposures in most seasons. Choice of exposure 

 may not be significant in much of the relatively flat southern ( 

 half of the study area. 



Use of slope ; The majority of mule deer were observed on flat and 

 gentle slopes in all seasons except the spring of 198I, when slightly 

 more deer were on medium and steep slopes (Table 145). The 

 proportion of deer seen on steep slopes was never very high. The 



