especially true during 1972-74, when losses of adult females 

 to predation were added to hunting mortality. Even at the low 

 densities of 1972-77, compensatory increases in recruitment 

 did not occur. 



Mortality of Adult Males 



Hunting was the major cause of mortality for adult males; 

 few died from other causes . Harvest rates for adult males 

 averaged 37.5% from 1960-1986, ranging as high as 58%. During 

 the years that marked males were present, composite samples 

 indicated that mortality from hunting averaged 36.4% for 

 yearling males and 53% for males 2 years old and older. Sex 

 ratios of adults averaged 42 males: 100 females pre-hunting 

 season (range, 20-64:100) and 31 males: 100 females 

 post-hunting season (range 13-50:100). Male:100 female ratios 

 for some unhunted deer populations (Martinka 1978, Gavin et 

 al. 1984, Kie and White 1985) were no higher than for this 

 hunted population during many years. Gavin et al. (1984) 

 indicated that the annual mortality rate for adult male 

 Columbian white-tailed deer was 40%, even in the absence of 

 hunting mortality. They suggested that increased energy 

 utilization associated with the breeding season resulted in 

 poor condition of males and subsequent winter mortality. 

 Similar conclusions were made by Flook (1970) to explain the 

 higher natural mortality rate of adult male elk compared to 

 adult female elk in unhunted populations. 



The relatively low rates of winter mortality for adult 

 males in the population during 1960-1986 (3.8%) and for marked 

 males (8.7%) during 1977-1986 (marked sample was older than 

 the male population as a whole, 1977-86), suggested that 

 hunting mortality may be less additive to winter mortality for 

 adult males than for females or fawns. Harvest rates were 

 higher for males than for antlerless deer, so a greater 

 portion of those destined to die over-winter were harvested. 

 The older, dominant males, most likely to be in poorest 

 condition after the breeding season, were also those most 

 heavily harvested by hunters . 



During many years, especially those preceding severe 

 winters, lower harvest rates for males might not result in 

 appreciably lower total annual mortality rates. We do not 

 know what the natural mortality rates of adult males are in 

 this population in the absence of hunting, but it is unlikely 

 the annual increase in survival would exactly match the 

 decline in harvest rates. If, in the absence of hunting, 

 annual natural mortality rates of adult males in our 

 population were as high as the 40% observed by Gavin et al . 

 (1984), then the majority of hunting mortality of adult males 

 at current levels (especially that of older males) may not be 

 additive to winter mortality. However, because not all 



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