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1 June 2004 TRACKING OF WHITE-TAILED DEER MIGRATION BY GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM
Michael E. Nelson, L. David Mech, Paul F. Frame
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Abstract

We used global positioning system (GPS) radiocollars on female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to document details of onsets of migrations, rates of travel, patterns of travel, durations of migrations, and distances traveled by 8 deer in spring and 4 deer in autumn in northeastern Minnesota in 1998, 1999, and 2001. In spring, deer migrated 23–45 km during 31–356 h, deviating a maximum 1.6–4.0 km perpendicular from a straight line of travel between their seasonal ranges. They migrated a minimum of 2.1–18.6 km/day over 11–56 h during 2–14 periods of travel. Minimum travel during 1-h intervals averaged 1.5 km/h (SD = 0.6, n = 27). Deer paused 1–12 times, averaging 24 h/pause (SD = 29, n = 43, range 19–306 h/pause). Deer migrated similar distances in autumn with comparable rates and patterns of travel. A difference of 1.9- to 7.5-fold in duration of migrations by deer migrating the same distances suggests that much of the variation in durations may be independent of migration distance.

Michael E. Nelson, L. David Mech, and Paul F. Frame "TRACKING OF WHITE-TAILED DEER MIGRATION BY GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM," Journal of Mammalogy 85(3), 505-510, (1 June 2004). https://doi.org/10.1644/BOS-120
Accepted: 1 April 2002; Published: 1 June 2004
KEYWORDS
deer
GPS tracking
migration
movements
Odocoileus virginianus
radiotracking
travel
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