The sagebrush/grassland type received its highest usage in the 

 fall of 1979 and spring of 1980, 55 and 56 percent, respectively. 

 Its lowest usage was noted in the spring of 1979 and the dry 

 summer of 1980 with 7 and 19 percent of the observations 

 respectively. Apparently the sagebrush/grassland type is not 

 preferred by deer in either weather extreme, snow and cold or 

 hot and dry. 



The creekbottom type usage ranged from none to nine percent 

 over the course of the study. A goodly proportion of the Otter 

 Creek bottoms have been developed into farmland. As a result 

 only a few sections have adequate cover. Those remaining 

 stretches with good riparian vegetation are extremely important 

 to deer and other wildlife species. They should be protected 

 in every possible instance. Combined creekbottom subtypes 

 showed the highest usage, 21 percent of observations, during 

 the 1979 summer. 



Deer utilize the agricultural areas quite heavily during 

 the period of initial "greenup . " This occurred in the early 

 summer months of 1979 and spring of 1980 when 15 and 24 percent 

 of the deer were observed in agricultural fields in those 

 seasons respectively. Very few observations were made in the 

 agricultural types in any other season. 



Activity : Examination of mule deer activity at the time of 

 observation (Table 5) gives some insight into the habits and 

 condition of the deer herd. The high percentages of deer 

 feeding in spring and summer indicate they were building up 

 their fat reserves. A small, but substantial, percentage 

 (over 25 percent) was observed feeding during fall and winter. 

 The seasons of greatest stress, the cold spring of 1979, 

 winter 1979-80 and the hot, dry 1980 summer, correlate with 

 the greatest numbers observed lying down. Since most of the 

 deer resorted to pine cover areas with their inherent observa- 

 bility bias, the percentage actually lying down was no doubt 

 underestimated. 



Table 5. Seasonal activity of mule deer in the Otter Creek area. 



\_l Total observations 



2/ Percent of observations rounded to nearest whole number 



3/ tr = trace; a percentage less than 0.5 



20 



