Home Ranges of Female Deer 59 



three locations in the county: 6 on 6 February at Vest, 11 on 22 

 February at Knob Bottom, and 18 on 13 March at Carr Fork. Only 8 of 

 these 35 radio-collared does were used in the analysis reported here, 

 because not all does survived and established home ranges. In addition, 

 resident does were captured between November 1984 and April 1985 in 

 Robinson Forest; these does were also radio-collared, and 6 were used 

 as controls for the relocated does in this analysis. 



Does slated to be relocated were captured in rocket nets, in 

 Stephenson box traps, and with rifle-propelled darts containing 

 succinylcholine chloride. We attached radio collars at the time of 

 capture. The does captured at Ballard County WMA were kept for up 

 to 5 days prior to shipment in a modified barn designed to reduce stress 

 and limit human contact. The interior of the barn was dark, and does 

 were provided with food and water through panels removable to the 

 barn's exterior. They were loaded for shipment by slowly rolling one of 

 the barn walls toward a loading ramp until all individuals entered a 

 waiting truck. The does were not immobilized during shipment. 



The three release sites were chosen by local conservation officers. 

 The criteria for their selection were that local interest in the stocking be 

 high and that the probability for harassment of the does by dogs and 

 people be low. Consequently, most release sites were remote. 



Resident does were captured with rocket-nets in clearings baited 

 with corn or salt. We immobilized the deer with intramuscular injections 

 of xylazine hydrochloride (0.01 mg/kg of body weight) so that radio 

 collars could be attached. The deer were then released at the point of 

 capture. 



Radio collars had a life expectancy of at least one year. Constructed 

 of brown nylon, they were permanently attached to each doe. A three- 

 element H-type antenna was used for aerial and ground radio-tracking. 

 Radio location vectors were taken on each resident and relocated doe 

 within Knott Co. at least twice weekly from 6 February to 13 November 

 1985. 



The approximate location of individuals was determined by 

 triangulation (Cochran 1980:517-519). Vectors that crossed at angles 

 >135° or<22° were not used to record locations. Hence, not all vectors 

 resulted in fixes, and the mean number of observations/ doe/ week was 

 18.6. 



The accuracy of vectors was determined by triangulating from 

 varying distances on three transmitters of known positions at Robinson 

 Forest and averaging the bearing precision over the mean distance. The 

 average of the error polygons was determined using two bearings per 

 triangulation according to the procedures of Heezen and Tester (1967; 

 see also Nams and Boutin 1991). 



^c 



