Center, Internet, Wildlife Damage Management
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Characterizing Nontarget Species Use at Bait Sites for White-tailed Deer
Date of this Version
Spring 2015
Document Type
Article
Citation
Human–Wildlife Interactions (Spring 2015) 9(1): article 11
doi: 10.26077/6n16-pf76
Abstract
Baiting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has evolved into a controversial issue of wildlife management. During August–September 2012, we established a grid of 64 cameras in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at sites baited with corn that simulated legal bait sites for white-tailed deer to characterize presence, diversity, and frequency of species use. We detected >20 species of wildlife that visited bait sites. We categorized 3,177 of 11,194 images as independent detections (i.e., species detected >1 hour apart). White-tailed deer had the greatest detection rate (47%), but overall detections of nontarget species was slightly greater (53%). Most frequent nontarget species detected were northern raccoons (Procyon lotor) and American black bears (Ursus americanus). Wildlife officials should consider the potential effects of baiting on species’ ecology and the potential for disease transmission that high-use of bait sites by nontarget species present.