Easy Ways to Track Trends of Wildlife Populations

BOZEMAN - - Information on wildlife population trends can help land owners understand the effects of land management and their hunting program on wildlife numbers.

Wildlife population trends are not difficult to collect, says Jim Knight, Montana State University wildlife specialist.

Knight recently published "A Ranchers Guide for Monitoring Elk, Deer and Pronghorn Antelope Populations," which is free when ordered through your local county Extension agent.

The eight-page publication includes details of how to accurately estimate populations as well as the forms a landowner could use to organize the estimates.

"Properly collected over several years, population trends can show whether forage over-use in an area is due to livestock or an increasing game population," says Knight.

Two keys in keeping surveys accurate are to keep the survey simple and consistent.

The surveys should be conducted at the same time each year, preferably during the same four-week period every year when snowfall is likely. Snow improves the collection of data and reduces the variability due to the skill of the person recording the data. The survey would be conducted on the first three mornings after a snowfall during the selected four-week period. Recorded tracks are brushed out, or otherwise marked, so they don't get counted the following day.

The survey should be started about an hour after sunrise. This allows detecting animal movement the morning of the survey and also provides time to conduct the survey before snow-melt makes fresh tracks difficult to distinguish from old ones.

Knight suggests selecting a 10-mile route.

"The miles don't have to be successive," says Knight. "You can select areas deer normally use every year and skip areas where they are rarely found." The beginning and ending point of each segment must have identifiable features, and the route must be the same every year.

Usually, selecting a route that can be followed in an automobile is preferable.

"Not only do you cover the route in less time, but the survey is more likely to be continued if successors can follow roads in the comfort of a vehicle." If the route is to be traveled by foot, horseback or snowmobile, it should be clearly marked.

Wildlife entering and leaving the road without crossing it are not counted, but deer, elk or antelope that cross the route several times are counted several times.

"The goal is to establish population trends, not actual population numbers. The more days the survey is conducted, the more accurate your data will be," says Knight.

This Extension MontGuide 9516 is free when ordered through your local MSU Extension office. It is also available in Adobe Acrobat format on the web at http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9516.pdf You can download the latest Acrobat Reader for free at http://www.adobe.com. It can also be ordered via the postal service, but there would be a charge. To learn more about getting the publication by mail, click here.

Send questions or comments to Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717or email carolf@montana.edu.

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