The locations of deer and other species observed during 

 full-coverage aerial surveys, radio-relocation flights, and 

 other operations were recorded as the mid point of a 3.2 ha 

 grid block. Those locations were transformed to Universal 

 Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates for analysis of 

 distribution, habitat use, and home range and movements. 

 Seasonal and annual home ranges and movement patterns as 

 expressed by the minimum convex polygon (Mohr 1947) and 

 average activity radii (Hayne 1949), were calculated using 

 TELDAY software (T.N. Lonner and D.E. Burkhalter, Users manual 

 for the computer program TELDAY, Mont. Dept. Fish, Wildlife 

 and Parks, unpubl . ) . Habitat use was evaluated using a block 

 (cell) -analysis technique (Porter and Church 1987, Wood 1987) 

 in which use was compared with availability (Byers et al. 

 1984) using Chi-Square tests (Everitt 1977). Analyses of 

 distribution, movement, home range, and habitat use as well as 

 social organization included only data obtained through 1984 

 when field studies were reduced to focus on data analysis and 

 reporting. 



Comparative data on population characteristics and trends 

 for adjoining breaks habitat were obtained by special aerial 

 surveys and continuing the full-coverage, helicopter and 

 fixed- wing surveys on the nearby Nichols Coulee Resource 

 Conservation Area (NCRCA) study area. 



The NCRCA, located north of the Missouri River, 3.2 km 

 northeast of our primary study area, served as a comparative 

 study area for mule deer. This area, described by Knowles 

 (1975), is also "River Breaks" habitat, but is somewhat more 

 arid, almost totally lacks the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga 

 menziesii) vegetation type, and is physiographically 

 characterized by major drainages that are steeply cut in a 

 north-south orientation such that steep slopes adjacent to the 

 river are primarily south-facing. 



River bottoms on and adjacent to the primary study area, 

 described by Allen (1968), were used to obtain comparative 

 population data for white-tailed deer. 



To assess possible effects of predation and interspecific 

 competition on population ecology and dynamics of mule deer, 

 we collected data on other species inhabiting the study area, 

 including elk, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, 

 lagomorphs, and various small rodents. Data on elk and coyote 

 numbers, distribution, and habitat use were recorded during 

 all complete-coverage surveys for mule deer. Special aerial 

 surveys were flown to count and classify whitetails on the 

 Missouri River bottoms. Aerial surveys of antelope on the 

 area and adjoining plains were flown in late summer by the 

 area management biologist. Siren and den area surveys of 

 coyotes by Pyrah (1984) and project personnel provided coyote 



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