Rick Wittsell

Master’s Research/

Thesis Project Overview

26, July 2004

Objective:

The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve located approximately 10 miles upstream from Chico, California has a small, year around population of Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus). This population is part of the East Tehama Deer Herd and in the late fall/early winter another seasonal migratory component of this herd moves in from their summer range around Chester, California.

The questions to be answered here are: 1) Do the resident deer move off the Reserve in response to hunting pressure? 2) Does the migratory component push the resident deer off the Reserve and therefore take the hunting pressure off the residents? To find out the answers to these questions I propose trapping as many resident females from the Reserve as possible (~20) using Clover traps and fitting them with radio telemetry collars during the summer months of 2004 and 2005. This must be done before the seasonal migration begins from the summer range to avoid any overlap and misidentification between the two populations. Then, determine the Reserve resident’s home range by keeping track of these collared animal’s movements when the migratory component is absent, and then compare this to their movements when hunters are on the Reserve and also when the migratory component is present.