Tracking of White-Tailed Deer Migration by Global Positioning System

Authors

Michael Nelson, Biological Resources Division, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research CenterFollow
L. David Mech, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research CenterFollow
Paul F. Frame, University of Alberta

Date of this Version

2004

Comments

Published in Journal of Mammalogy, 85(3):505–510, 2004.

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.