had one ear removed. Through simple proportion the total range loss was cal- 
culated to be 2,568 animals. This mortality was 18 percent of the 1939 legal 
kill of 13,933, or a ratio of 1:5.5. 
In 1940 a 100-percent cruise wes attempted after the hunting season on 
sample areas distributed over the forest. Riders were Spaced from 66 to 100 
feet apart, depending upon the topography and the vegetative cover, and each 
rider attempted to discover all dead deer and paunches of eviscerated deer 
on his assigned strip. 
Paunch data were recorded for two reasons. They would serve as an in- 
dex to the legal kill on each area concerned, and, in addition, the ratio © 
of the number of dead deer to the. number of paunches found would give the re- 
lationship between the crippling loss to date and the legal kill.- The results 
of the survey showed a total of 60 dead deer end 191 paunches found, a ratio 
of 1:3.1, or a crippling loss of 31 percent of the legal removal. It was the 
Opinion of several of the checkers, however, that with a spacing of 66 to 100 
feet between cruisers many paunches could easily. have been missed. Most of 
the paunches had become, blackened and shriveled by the close of the ll-day 
hunting season and were thus more difficult to discover. If paunches were 
missed, then the percentage of crippling loss to legal removal would be 
lowered. Subsequent studies have tended to indicate the probability that 
meny paunches are missed at distances in excess of 20 to 25 feet from the ob- 
server. 
During the past six hunting seasons (1941 to 1946, inclusive), the 
Forest Service employees on the Fishlake Netional Forest have recorded the. 
paunches and dead deer which they found while patrolling the range during 
and immediately following the hunting seasons. Considerable time was spent. 
on the range and parts of every ranger district were covered, including 
various elevations, cover types, and areas of varying degrees of accessibility. 
The distances at which most jof the paunches and dead deer were first sighted: 
were also recorded. 
‘The results of this investigation are shown in the following tabulation, 
which ineludes some figures from the adjacent Manti National Forest for 1944 
and 1945: 
Mae OL pounchos meported observed 4s. o 5 6 be 6a os ss Le ee eS 
Number of dead deer reported obServed. 33). sels 2 en es we LOD 
Number of paunch records:in which the distance of the paunch from 
the observer when it was first sighted is given, ... +... . . 477 
Averege distance of, paunch from observer when first sighted. ... 21.4 ft. 
Number of dead deer.,records in which the distance of the dead deer 
from the observer when it wes first sighted is given ..... . 146 
Average distance of dead deer from observer when first sighted .. 47,9 ft. 
This tabulation shows that the average distance at which deed deer were 
first sighted was 2.24 times greater than that at which the paunches were 
first sighted. Tne average distance at which the paunches were first sighted 
indicated that many could be missed on & strip of ground 66 to 100 feet wide. 
