New study tracks fawn survival rate in Illinois
written by Paula M. Davenport
 GLENDALE,
Ill. -At 6 feet 2 inches tall and 210 pounds, aspiring forester John
G. Richey is cut like a young Paul Bunyan. No wonder. He runs 10
miles a week, bench presses 305 and is a former high school
quarterback.
Still, it took every ounce of prowess for him to catch a
seven-pound, week-old fawn scared up a few weeks ago in Pope County.
Richey is one of about a dozen college students working on the
first phase of a research study on fawn survival in deep Southern
Illinois. The Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory at Southern
Illinois University Carbondale is conducting the project.
Step one? Capture and slip expandable radio collars on the tiny,
dappled deer. Each collar emits unique beeps that will allow SIUC
scientists to track the animals during their most vulnerable first
year of life.
The three-year venture - which began its first field season this
spring - will yield a crisper picture of population dynamics among
downstate white tail deer.
Biologists with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, or
IDNR, requested the study, the latest in 20 years of deer research
done at the University's wildlife lab.
"IDNR wants more region-specific data for their deer population
model, which (among other things) helps determine hunting levels in
different counties," said John E. McDonald Jr., one of the
wildlife lab scientists overseeing the project. "Their model is
based on data collected in other parts of the state where we have
reason to believe fawn production and survival are higher."
It may be hard for locals to imagine, but deer north of here - in
agriculturally dense parts of the state - seem to produce even more
offspring and at a younger age than their southern cousins.
"Deer in northern and central Illinois have access almost year
round to high protein, high carbohydrate foods in the form of corn
and soybeans," explained McDonald. "In these southern
forested counties, deer just don't have that so we expect their
productivity rates to be less and survival of offspring to be a bit
lower."
Females here may deliver only one or two fawns a year, compared to
triplets often borne by their sisters to the north. "That can
make a real difference on lifetime output," said McDonald.
Once it gets hard data on any regional differences among deer, IDNR
will be able to plug new numbers into population equations for more
accurate estimates of deer populations all over the state. And the
statistics will figure into herd management plans and
county-by-county hunting quotas.
On a recent morning last month, Richey joined one of two crews that
formed an eight-person skirmish line, systematically wading through
wet, chin-tall prairie grass, savage thistles and tangled thickets
in search of fawns.
After nearly two hours of the increasingly hot and humid work, a
patch of the woods seemed to spring to life when a 16-inch tall fawn
darted out of an oasis of trees.
Richey, forehead swathed in a red bandana, sprang into action -
bobbing, weaving and racing alongside the fawn. Water bottles in a
fanny pack slapped against his lower back as he chased the fawn
150-yards through snarled, damp grass.
Then he slipped into a dense thicket, dove head first into a cold
stream and scooped the fawn out of the water.
Crewmembers rapidly moved in concert to collect data.
They slid a little muslin blindfold over the fawn's eyes to ease its
anxiety, slipped a radio collar on elastic band that will fall away
in about a year around its neck, weighed and tagged it, measured its
hoof to determine age, noted its gender, general health and capture
location and released it in the vicinity where it was found.
To date, they've collared 48 fawns, mostly on privately-owned land
in Pope and Johnson counties. The birthing season runs from mid-May to early July.
Now, two graduate students will follow the fawns. Vince T. Green
will focus on survival rates of fawns in the wild. Valerie L. Carter
will study deer who live closer to people.
Together, the two knocked on scores of landowners' doors to get
access to 10,000 acres of privately- owned land. Government agencies
opened the gates to 200,000 more.
Most folks, like farmer Jim Foss just outside tiny Granstburg,
favored the idea.
On the day crews crisscrossed his 300-acre spread, Foss stopped by
to check their progress.
"Have you found anything yet?" he asked, seemingly as
eager as the workers to find fawns on his land.
"This time of year, a fawn's body size is about the size of a
big tomcat - but of course they've got those lo-o-o-ng legs,"
said Foss.
"I'm interested in seeing what they'll find and what's
here," added Foss, who moved cattle off the land to let it
rejuvenate. An avid hunter, he also planted food crops in part of
the former pasture to nourish small game and hopes his efforts will
shelter and hold more wildlife.
Now, three of the researchers will take turns tracking the collared
fawns, noting their locations once in the morning and once in the evening.
"The first couple of weeks are really critical," McDonald
explained. "They have this real intense bit of mortality right
up front. Most fawns that are going to die do so in the first two
weeks. For us to determine cause of death, we want to find them as
soon as possible after they die. They deteriorate pretty
quickly."
Some could end up on dinner tables after hunting season opens.
"Their collars are cryptic, they're brown and designed to blend
in so a hunter won't see them. We don't want people to avoid hunting
them," said McDonald, adding that deer check stations will
gather information on the number of collared fawns harvested by
hunters.
The whole process will be repeated for two more years.
"We're trying to figure out the relative proportions of
mortality, whether hunting related or not. We've set up the study to
be as unbiased as we could. By the time we have three years of data,
it will give us the type of precision that we're looking for in
terms of estimating fawn survival rates."
The project is funded by INDR through the Federal Aid in Wildlife
Restoration act, a federal excise tax on firearms, ammunition,
archery and hunting equipment. These monies are distributed to state
agencies that funnel them into wildlife management and research and
habitat restoration.
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