NEAFWA 2018

OLD TITLE: Hunting Induced Site Level Spatial Variability in White-tailed Deer Abundance Captured Through the Lens of Wildlife Cameras

AUTHORS: Jennifer E. Kilburn, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse - University of Connecticut; Andrew M. LaBonte, Howard J. Kilpatrick - Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

ABSTRACT. Managed public lands balance maintaining healthy wildlife populations and human recreation opportunities. Hunting, not only as a form of recreation but as a management tool, varies across land ownership. Previous studies have shown that during the hunting season white-tailed deer alter their behavior and reduce movements to avoid hunting pressure. However, little has been done to document how these shifts affect site level local abundance, especially in areas with a diverse patchwork of land ownership and hunting pressure. We used 50 wildlife cameras evenly divided between hunted and un-hunted properties in north-eastern Connecticut and N-mixture models in a Bayesian framework to estimate local site level abundance and detection probability before, during, and after the hunting season. We found that average site level abundance increased on un-hunted properties and decreased on hunted properties after initiation of the hunting season. Averaged across the entire study period, abundance was higher on un-hunted properties (2.5 does/31 ha, (0.99,7.4)) as opposed to hunted properties (1.5 does/31 ha, (0.51,5.60)). These patterns were not statically significant, but the abundance estimates and the change over time aligns with our expectation. Detection probability increased on hunted properties during the hunting season, which conflicts with previous findings but may result from behavior during the breeding season. Understanding the relationship between local, site-level shifts in abundance in response to hunting pressure allows managers to understand deer availability during the hunting season and how that might impact attainment of management goals and expectations.