opened to hunting within the next two or three years . " 



"Jackrabbits - Trend is no longer down, but believed 

 now to be steady, with an increase probable." 

 "Coyotes - Trend still up, with a brighter future. 

 More effective control is now possible since more men 

 are available. " 



"It is believed that we loose [sic] many deer each 

 year to coyotes but since their population is high 

 enough to withstand extensive depredation, they still 

 increase. " 



"We are pleased to announce for the first time that an 

 intensive coyote control program is underway." 

 (September-December, 1946). 



"The program planned was a duplicate of the one 

 conducted in Nevada in 1945-46, and consisted of the 

 distribution of small cubes of strychnine enclosed in 

 a small ball of horse tallow which was coated on the 

 outside with sugar. This is called a poison pill. 

 Distribution was accomplished by plane for economy in 

 funds and efficiency in operation. Plans were made to 

 poison the entire Game Range area and 1,200,000 acres 

 adjacent to it. " 



"Manufacture of the poison pills started about the 

 first of November and by the end of the first week 

 production was up to about 9,000 per day, for the 

 three man crew." 



1947 - "The first extensive control of these [coyotes] was 

 done through the winter, through the use of poison 

 distributed by airplanes. Results in the areas 

 treated were above expectations. A conservative 

 estimate of the poison kill stands at 1,500." 

 "Mule Deer - Trend is rapidly up on the west end . . . 

 The population on the western thirty miles of the Game 

 Range [includes the present study area] is nearing the 

 point of critical forage consumption, indicating the 

 necessity of an open season soon. " 



[Author's Note:] The first substantial guantitative data on 

 mule deer population size on the area were collected by aerial 

 census during September, 1947 (Brown 1947). Brown and an 

 observer in a fixed-wing aircraft flew 40 miles of strip 

 census lines in northeast Fergus County, including our study 

 area. They counted 4 8 mule deer and assumed that they had 

 observed deer within a l/4-mile-wide strip for a total of 10 

 sguare miles of coverage. These data convert to an observed 

 density of 4.8 mule deer/mi 2 (1.85/km 2 ). Our observability 

 indexes for fixed-wing aircraft surveys during autumn have 

 ranged from 0.265 to 0.488 (see Chapter 4). Because Brown 

 (1947) noted that the " air was extremely rough," the 

 percentage of the deer present that was observed at the time 



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