- Browse formed the bulk of winter food habits, with 

 Douglas-fir important until receding snows exposed Oregon 

 grape in late winter. 



Campbell (1973) - MDFG - continued investigations from the 

 big game habitat improvement study. 



- Identified the West Kootenai and Canoe Gulch as two areas 

 that should receive priority during the land acquisition 

 process (mitigation), with the Dunn Creek and Ten Mile- 

 Sutton Creek units to receive secoidary priority. 



- Cfoserved deer movements of up to 23 miles for mule deer 

 and 25 miles for white-tailed deer. 



- Use of the wintering areas declining due to population 

 decrease or dispersal over a larger area because of the 

 Libby Dam project. 



1973 Flath (1974) - MDPG - continued the railroad-deer re- 

 lationships study. 



- Three years data indicated the presence of trains on the 

 relocated railroad grade had had no effect on the 

 positioning of deer on the winter range. 



- A correlation between the level of deer use and the num- 

 ber of train casualties was found 



- The highest deer kill along the new line (1.93 deer/mile 

 in 1972) was lower than the average annual kill along the 

 old Great Northern line (4.9 deer/mile). 



- Presence of a migration route from tlie Fisher River-Wolf 

 Creek winter range up the sides of the impoundment area 

 as far as Warland Creek was discovered. This indicated 

 deer which once wintered along the Kootenai River now 

 move to the Fisher River-Wolf Creek area. 



Campbell and Knoche (1974) - MDFG - continued tine Lnvesti- 

 gations related to the evaluation of big game habitat 

 improvement. 



- Found light use of the winter ranges which was related 

 to the mild winter, deer dispersal, anchor a population 

 decline. 



- Found marked deer returned to specific wintering areas 

 with insignificant movement across the impoundment area. 



- Observed varying results within the different treatment 

 areas and made recommendations for future manipulations. 



B13 



