The pattern of home range formation for resident female 

 3580 from birth until age 4 is shown in Fig. 8.9 (annual PHR 

 1-4). Annual PHR size varied from 3.1 to 5.4 km 2 . The AAR was 

 smallest during the year she was a fawn (0.5 km), largest when 

 she was a yearling (1.0 km), and intermediate during the years 

 she was 2 to 4-years-old. Although exploratory movements took 

 place and some important areas of use expanded slightly 

 northeast, 70% of all relocations after 12 months of age were 

 within the boundaries of her first year home range. Fifty-six 

 percent of all relocations during the 4 years were within an 

 intensively used area of 0.5 km 2 that was 4% of her life PHR 

 and 14.5% of her smallest annual PHR. Except during periods 

 of deep snow when she moved to an area with larger south- 

 facing slopes (Fig. 8.9), this female used the same areas 

 during winter as during the rest of the year. 



For female mule deer on the study area, the majority of 

 which do not disperse from ancestral home ranges as yearlings, 

 the area in which they spend their first year becomes a major 

 portion of their adult home range (Fig. 8.9). During 

 fawn-rearing periods, however, mother and daughter seldom use 

 the same location at the same time (Fig. 7.12). Female fawns 

 of migratory females became migratory as well, and used the 

 same general summer and winter areas as their mothers; though 

 the timing of movements between areas was often independent. 

 The general home range size, shape, and pattern of use 

 appeared to be the result of learning and tradition, but daily 

 movements were most often independent, especially from May 

 through early autumn. 



Although the literature indicates that broad differences 

 in habitat can alter home range characteristics, it is 

 difficult to closely relate home range characteristics to 

 habitat within one study area. We hypothesized that deer 

 living in areas with large amounts of open area between 

 islands of cover might have larger home ranges than those deer 

 living in areas that included a lot of interconnected cover. 

 If there were differences in home range size within our study 

 area owing to varying habitat components, our gross analysis 

 did not detect it. Nineteen summer home ranges were 

 calculated for 9 resident adult females whose home range 

 included or bordered on large amounts of sagebrush-grassland 

 or pine-grassland cover types. Mean PHR for those deer was 

 3.11 km 2 and mean AAR was 0.86 km. Mean PHR for all resident 

 adult females was 3.44 km 2 and mean AAR was 0.83 km. 



As discussed earlier, habitat probably largely determined 

 whether deer were migratory or resident, and thus affected 

 home range size. Overlapping home ranges of 3 resident and 4 



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