Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are widely hunted throughout western North America and are experiencing population declines across much of their range. Consequently, understanding the direct and indirect effects of hunting is important for management of mule deer populations. Managers can influence deer mortality rates through changes in hunting season length or authorized tag numbers. Little is known, however, about how hunting can affect site fidelity patterns and subsequent habitat use and movement patterns of mule deer. Understanding these patterns is especially important for adult females because changes in behavior may influence their ability to acquire resources and ultimately affect their productivity. Between 2008 and 2013, we obtained global positioning system locations for 42 adult female deer at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range in northeast Oregon, USA, during 5‐day control and treatment periods in which hunters were absent (pre‐hunt), present but not actively hunting (scout and post‐hunt), and actively hunting male mule deer (hunt) on the landscape. We estimated summer home ranges and 5‐day use areas during pre‐hunt and hunt periods and calculated overlap metrics across home ranges and use areas to assess site fidelity within and across years. We used step selection functions to evaluate whether female mule deer responded to human hunters by adjusting fine‐scale habitat selection and movement patterns during the hunting season compared to the pre‐hunt period. Mule deer maintained site fidelity despite disturbance by hunters with 72 ± 4% (SE) within‐year overlap between summer home ranges and hunt use areas and 54 ± 7% inter‐annual overlap among pre‐hunt use areas and 56 ± 7% among hunt use areas. Mule deer diurnal movement rates, when hunters are active on the landscape, were higher during the hunting period versus pre‐hunt or scout periods. In contrast, nocturnal movement rates, when hunters are inactive on the landscape, were similar between hunting and non‐hunting periods. Additionally, during the hunt, female mule deer hourly movements increased in areas with high greenness values, indicating that mule deer spent less time in areas with more vegetative productivity. Female mule deer maintained consistent habitat selection patterns before and during hunts, selecting areas that offered more forest canopy cover and high levels of vegetative productivity. Our results indicate that deer at Starkey are adopting behavioral strategies in response to hunters by increasing their movement rates and selecting habitat in well‐established ranges. Therefore, considering site fidelity behavior in management planning could provide important information about the spatial behavior of animals and potential energetic costs incurred, especially by non‐target animals during hunting season. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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评估狩猎对M鹿空间行为的间接影响

ule（Odocoileus hemionus）在北美洲西部各地被广泛狩猎，并且其大部分地区的人口都在下降。因此，了解狩猎的直接和间接影响对于管理m鹿种群非常重要。管理人员可以通过改变狩猎季节的长度或授权标签的数量来影响鹿的死亡率。然而，关于狩猎如何影响场所保真度模式以及随后的栖息地使用和and鹿的活动模式知之甚少。了解这些模式对于成年女性尤为重要，因为行为的改变可能会影响她们获取资源的能力，并最终影响她们的生产力。在2008年至2013年之间，我们在美国东北俄勒冈州的Starkey实验森林和山脉获得了42只成年雌鹿的全球定位系统位置，在为期5天的控制和治疗期内，猎人不在场（狩猎前），在场但不积极狩猎（侦察和狩猎后），并在景观上积极狩猎雄性ule鹿（狩猎）。我们估计了在狩猎前和狩猎期的夏季住宅范围和5天使用面积，并计算了各个住宅范围和使用区域的重叠度量，以评估几年内和跨年的站点保真度。我们使用步选择函数来评估雌性adjusting鹿是否通过调整狩猎季节（与狩猎前时期）相比的精细栖息地选择和运动方式来响应人类猎人。尽管受到猎人的干扰，鹿仍保持场地保真度，夏季居所范围和狩猎使用区域之间的年内重叠为72±4％（SE），狩猎前使用区域之间的年间重叠为54±7％，狩猎前使用区域之间的年际重叠为56±7％搜寻使用区域。当猎人活跃在地上时，鹿的昼夜运动速率在狩猎期间要比狩猎前或侦察时期高。相比之下，当猎人在地上不活动时，夜间运动速率在狩猎和非狩猎期间相似。此外，在狩猎过程中，在绿色度较高的地区，雌性hour的每小时运动增加，这表明m在植物多产的地区花费的时间更少。雌性er在狩猎之前和期间保持一致的栖息地选择模式，选择提供更多林冠覆盖和高水平植物生产力的区域。我们的结果表明，Starkey的鹿正在采取行为策略来响应猎人的需求，方法是提高其移动速度并在既定范围内选择栖息地。因此，在管理计划中考虑场地保真行为可以提供有关动物的空间行为和所产生的潜在能量成本的重要信息，尤其是在狩猎季节非目标动物所产生的潜在能量成本。©2020野生动物协会。在管理计划中考虑场地保真行为可以提供有关动物的空间行为和所产生的潜在能量成本的重要信息，尤其是在狩猎季节非目标动物所产生的潜在能量成本。©2020野生动物协会。在管理计划中考虑场地保真行为可以提供有关动物的空间行为和所产生的潜在能量成本的重要信息，尤其是在狩猎季节非目标动物所产生的潜在能量成本。©2020野生动物协会。