Nine marked females (12%) died during summer and autumn, 

 2 as a result of coyote predation and 7 of unknown causes. 



Males 



Hunting was known or suspected as the cause of 91% of all 

 deaths of marked adult males during 1976-1986. Of 46 known to 

 have died, 32 (70%) were shot or crippling losses and 10 (22%) 

 were suspected hunting mortalities based on time of 

 disappearance. Additionally, almost all loss of males 

 determined from population estimates (Table 6.3) occurred 

 during the hunting season. Of 32 marked males verified shot, 

 2 (6%) were crippling losses. Only 4 (9%) males died during 

 winter-spring. Cause of death was not assigned because the 

 remains were not found. Though coyote predation was suspected 

 as the proximal cause, wounding during the hunting season may 

 have often been the ultimate cause. That was the case for 1 

 marked male assigned to the hunting loss category. He was 

 wounded during hunting season and killed by coyotes during 

 February. 



Age-specific Mortality 



Females 



Age-specific mortality rates were determined for 118 

 1-year-old and older females over 404 deer-years (Fig. 6.1). 

 Only females aged to a specific year class at capture and 

 those marked at the beginning of a biological year were 

 included in the sample. Age-specific mortality was categorized 

 as either hunting or natural. The few females that were 

 suspected but not verified as being shot were included as 

 hunting mortalities. Natural mortality included all other 

 causes; most occurred during winter and spring. 



Total annual mortality was highest for females aged 12 

 and older, followed by females between the ages of 6 and 7, 9 

 and 10, and 1 and 2 years of age (Fig. 6.1). Relatively high 

 mortality rates for the youngest and oldest adults were not 

 unexpected, but high mortality rates for females in their 7th 

 year of life was surprising. Most of the latter occurred 

 during winter and was not hunting related (Fig. 6.1). As we 

 noted elsewhere (Hamlin and Mackie 1987), the increased 

 mortality for 6 year-old females was an aberration from the 

 typical U-shaped mortality curve of mammals (Caughley 1966). 

 The coincidental peaks in survival of fawns to 6 months and 

 female mortality at 6 years suggested a relationship between 

 reproduction and mortality. We hypothesized (Hamlin and 

 Mackie 1987) that the peak in non-hunting mortality rate at 6 

 years was the average outcome of cumulative reproductive 

 stress resulting from a strategy of maximum reproductive 

 effort each year in a variable, unpredictable environment. 



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