L.D. Mech
P.F. Frame
M.E. Nelson
2004
<p><span>We used global positioning system (GPS) radiocollars on female white-tailed deer (</span><i>Odocoileus virginianus</i><span>) 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 (</span><i>SD</i><span> = 0.6, </span><i>n</i><span> = 27). Deer paused 1–12 times, averaging 24 h/pause (</span><i>SD</i><span> = 29, </span><i>n</i><span> = 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.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1644/BOS-120
en
Oxford Academic
Tracking of white-tailed deer migration by Global Positioning System
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