production and subsequent poor condition with no fawn 

 recruitment the following year. During years when they do not 

 wean fawns, females would be more likely to occur in larger 

 groups (Chapter 7) and be more vulnerable to hunters. Also, 

 older females in general are likely to be in poorer condition, 

 which may cause them to be less alert and to lag in groups 

 fleeing from hunters. 



In a non-hunted population, relatively high natural 

 mortality rates would be expected for females 12-years-old and 

 older. The relatively high hunting mortality for those 

 females in this population removed many before they were 

 exposed to natural mortality during winter. Thus, some 

 hunting mortality of older females may not be additive to 

 other mortality, thereby reducing observed natural mortality 

 rates for older females to lower than expected levels. 



Based on population estimates, emigration of yearling 

 females was apparently not balanced by immigration. Although 

 this loss was relatively minor in total and most occurred for 

 the 1979, 1980, and 1986 cohorts, it increased loss of 

 yearling females to the population. When all losses to the 

 population, including emigration, are considered, mortality of 

 yearling females was 25% rather than the 20% (Fig. 6.1) 

 observed for individuals . 



Males 



Because only small samples of 3+ year old males were 

 available to determine age-specific mortality rates and the 

 samples did not show differences, males 3-years-old and older 

 were combined. Mortality rate for 33 males between 1 and 2 

 years of age was 36%. Between 2 and 3 years of age, 50% of 28 

 males died, and annual mortality was 56% for 36 males 3-years- 

 old and older. 



As discussed previously, most deaths of adult males were 

 hunting related. Only 9% of deaths of marked males were 

 suspected to be the result of natural causes. The higher 

 harvest rate of males aged 2 years and older than for 

 yearlings apparently resulted from hunter selection for 

 larger-antlered deer. Except for extreme drought years, most 

 2 year old males had small, 4X4-point antlers that were 

 obviously larger than yearling antlers. Apparently, that 

 antler size was enough to satisfy many hunters, because 

 mortality rate of older and larger males did not increase 

 substantially after 2 years of age. The fact that the 

 mortality rates of 3 year old and older males did not increase 

 beyond that of 2 year old males may also be related to older 

 males being more wary than younger ones, at least prior to the 

 rut . 



165 



