the ridse from Waddle Creek to Corral Creek west of Hanging 

 Woman Creek. Another major group was observed east of Hanging 

 Woman between Horse Creek and Trail Creek. 



V/hile deer were still observed in most portions of the study 

 area, a noticeable converging on Hanging Woman Creek occurred 

 during the summer season (Figure 23). Mule deer were 

 staying close to their primary water supply, i.e. Hanging 

 Woman Creek. The greatest concentration of observations was 

 located east of Hanging Woman Creek south from Horse Creek 

 through the mouth of Trail Creek to the southern boundary of 

 the study area. Practically all the observations were in 

 the 1-3 group size category. 



The number of fall observations is greatly reduced from spring 

 and summer because group sizes are bigger and only one year's 

 data were gathered (Figure 24). The greatest numbers observed 

 were in the vicinity of coordinates 0, 26. Most observations 

 were in the central and southern portions of the study area. 



Winter observations are mapped in Figure 25. Four wintering 

 areas are evident. The largest, both in numbers of deer and 

 observations, is located along the ridge between Horse Creek 

 and Trail Creek. The second largest group is found astride 

 Corral Creek in the southwest portion of the study area„ Two 

 smaller groups, one north of Horse Creek and one astride Trail 

 Creek in the southeast corner, make up the remainder of the 

 mule deer wintering areas. Practically all of the observations 

 were of large groups of mule deer. 



Vegetation type usage : The ponderosa pine type was most heavily 

 used in the spring of 1979 when 48 percent of the mule deer 

 were observed in that type (Table 28). The winter season saw 

 44 percent of the deer in the pine subtypes. The least number 

 of deer were observed in the ponderosa pine type during the 

 fall season. 



Sagebrush/grasslands were most often used by mule deer in all 

 seasons and averaged 56.8 percent over the course of the 

 study. Seventy-three percent of the deer were observed in the 

 sagebrush/grassland type in the spring of 1980. This type 

 covered the largest amount of surface in the study area 

 (Figure 4) . 



Creekbottoms were extremely important during the summer and 

 fall months. This type, with a very small percentage of 

 surface area, accounted for 17 and 23 percent of the summer 

 observations in 1979 and 1980 respectively. During the summer 

 of 1980, the driest season of the study, fully 30 percent of 

 the mule deer observations were made in creekbottom subtypes. 

 This includes the agricultural creekbottom type which is 

 primarily hay fields. 



56 



