By multiplying the total number of paunches seen on the surveys by the correc- 
tion factor 2.24, a value was obtained which was the,expected number of 
paunches on the area in which the dead deer were seen. Tie corrected number 
—of paunches amounted to 1,183, and the resulting ratio of dead deer to. 
paunches , or range loss to legal removal, was 1:5.94. Expressed as a per- 
centage, the range loss-was'17 percent of the legal removal. Deer that were 
-erippled but did not. die until after the period of the survey were not in- 
cluded in this loss. 
Late in November and early in December 1940, or approximately one month 
after the crippling-loss data were obtained, the writer classified 1,746 live 
deer according to sex and age and found that 22 of the number were cripples. 
Similarly in 1942 it was found that 12 out of 1,152 deer were cripples. Thus 
eripples comprised 1.3 and-1.0 percent, respectively, of the 1940 and 1942 
deer herds one month after the close of the hunting season. Deer herein 
“classified as cripples were those that had broken limbs or limped perceptibly. 
Field observations on the part of the writer have shown that few of such 
crippled. deer survive to the next hunting season. Most of them succumb to 
predators, malnutrition, or infection during the first winter. Some, informa- 
tion supporting the view that most crippled deer die during the first winter 
following the hunting season in which they were crippled was obtained for 
the Duck Creek area near Ely, Nev. Officials of the Forest Service and of 
the Fish and Wildlife Service in classifying deer in that area during the 
period of January 6 to 8, 1947, found 6 crippled deer out of 479; that is, 
1.3 percent of the deer had a broken limb. Two and one-half months later 
(March 24 to 27, 1947), while taking the annual deer census in the same area, 
officials saw only 4 cripples out of the 767 deer that were close enough for 
the observers definitely to determine cripples. Cripples thus made up only 
0.5 percent of all deer at that time. Thus during the 25 months between the 
two sets. of observations approximately 60 percent of the deer with broken 
limbs had apparently succumbed. These crippled deer might also be considered 
crippling losses. If so, the number of cripples in the Fishlake herd-on Decem- 
ber 1, 1940, and December 1, 1942, would amount to’ 897 and 582, respectively, 
or 24 and 20 percent of the deer left deed shortly after the respective hunt- 
ing seasons. The average for the two years*is 22 percent. ‘Consequently, if 
these cripples are:-¢onsidered as hunting mortality even though they ultimately 
succumb to some other cause, the ratio of range loss to legal removel would 
be narrowed from 1:5.9 to us 4.9. This loss would be 21 percént of the legal 
kad. . 



Essentially all the crippling-loss data accuffulated on the Fishlake Forest 
_ were obtained from areas on which both bucks and doeS were hunted. Does were 
hunted under the limited license system. A:further classification of the dead 
deer was made to show the number that had been dressed out but left in the 
field. The aoe is shown in table l. 
