Use of topography : Dissected midslopes were most heavily used 

 by mule deer in all seasons of the study (Table 6), averaging 

 nearly 80 percent for the six seasons. Two distinct peaks of 

 lowland usage were noted, 19 percent in summer 1979 and 26 

 percent in spring 1980. These two seasons represent the initial 

 "green-up" period for the respective years. A similar decrease 

 in usage of the uplands types was noted from spring highs of 22 

 and 24 percent for 1979 and 1980 respectively to summer lows of 

 3 and percent respectively. A lack of water at the higher 

 elevations has been cited as being responsible for this shift 

 in other areas of eastern Montana (Martin 1980, Knowles 1975). 



Table 6. Seasonal use of topography by mule deer in the Otter 

 Creek area. 



Mesa-butte top 132/ 14 2 



Mesa-butte steep 



slopes 9 2 5 3 



Dissected mid- 

 slopes 73 78 86 87 



Alluvium/terrace - 5 2 - 



Flood plain - 14 3 8 



!_/ Total observations 



2/ Percent of observations rounded to nearest whole number 



3^/ tr = trace; a percentage less than 0.5. 



Use of exposure : Seasonal use of exposure is shown in Table 7. 

 Usage of northerly slopes decreased from its high, 41 percent, 

 in the 1979 spring to its low, 17 percent, during the 1980 spring. 

 Usage of southerly slopes was at or near 45 percent in all 

 seasons except the 1979 summer and 1980 spring which have been 

 discussed previously as being the green-up period. Easterly 

 exposures were least used during the two spring seasons with 

 26 and 13 percent for 1979 and 1980 respectively. All other 

 seasons usage levels were between 31 and 39 percent. Conversely, 

 usage of westerly exposures were highest during the spring seasons, 

 The 1979 spring saw 58 percent of mule deer observations on 

 westerly slopes, the highest figure recorded during the course 

 of the study. Numbers observed on flat lands were highest 

 during the summer of 1979, 16 percent and the spring of 1980, 

 21 percent. 



21 



