Abstracts

Abstract: Increasing coyote populations have raised concerns regarding potential negative predation impacts on white-tailed deer fawns in many parts of the eastern US. Following coyote establishment aboard Quantico Marine Corps Base (QMCB), Virginia, land managers observed a diminished capacity for white-tail deer populations to recover following increases in antlerless harvest (Odocoileus virginianus). Accordingly, we initiated a study to investigate white-tailed deer fawn cause-specific mortality, survival, and habitat associations in northern Virginia. During 2008-2011, we captured and radiocollared 55 fawns at QMCB, Virginia. We located and captured fawns using several techniques including ground searches, thermal imaging, and implantation of vaginal integrated transmitters in does. We monitored fawns daily for 12 weeks from May-August. We used a known fates model in program MARK to estimate survival rates and compare explanatory models based on Akaike’s Information Criterion corrected for small sample sizes (AICc). We recorded 17 mortalities with an overall survival probability of 0.60 (95% Confidence Interval 0.46-0.73). Primary mortality causes included natural (53%), Unknown (29%), and predation (18%). Model {Sage } had the lowest AICc value suggesting survival was influenced age. Indeed, 70% of our mortalities occurred within two weeks of capture. Reduction of either-sex hunting days by 50% in areas with heavy hunter pressure and low deer densities has resulted in improved annual herd recovery, suggesting that significant harvest strategy alterations are required to account for mortality levels observed in our study.