New Mexico Project
Assessment of nutrition and predation as limiting factors for mule deer in New Mexico
December 2014 - December 2018
Personnel
Participating Agencies
- New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
- New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station
The goal of this project is to determine which factors are effectively limiting mule deer in New Mexico. Our specific objectives are to:1) estimate mule deer survival rates and determine cause-specific mortality; 2) determine mule deer pregnancy rates and fawn recruitment; 3) assess the nutritional status of mule deer by determining the quantity (i.e., biomass of available forage) and quality (nutritional content) of forage available to mule deer within the study area; 4) determine diet composition and diet quality for mule deer; 5)estimate prey composition and kill rates for mountain lions; and 6)determine how habitat selection by mule deer is influenced by habitat conditions and predation risk by mountain lions.
| Presentations | Presentation Date |
|---|---|
| Kay, J. H., and J. W. Cain III. 2016. Top-Down and bottom-up forces on central New Mexico mule deer. 49th Joint Annual Meeting of the Arizona/New Mexico Chapters of The Wildlife Society, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. | February 2016 |
| Kay, J.H., and J.W. Cain III. 2017. Effects of sampling time on bone marrow fat estimates. 24th Annual Conference of the Wildlife Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. | September 2017 |
| Kay, J.H., and J.W. Cain III. 2017. New insight into utilizing bone marrow to assess the health of mountain lion prey . 12th Mountain Lion Workshop, Estes Park, Colorado, USA. | May 2017 |
| Kay, J.H., and J.W. Cain III. 2017. New insight into utilizing bone marrow to assess ungulate health. 12th Western States and Provinces Deer and Elk Workshop, Sun Valley, Idaho, USA. | May 2017 |
| Kay, J.H., and J.W. Cain III. 2017. New insight into utilizing bone marrow to assess ungulate health. 50th Joint Annual Meeting of the Arizona/New Mexico Chapters of The Wildlife Society, Farmington, New Mexico, USA. | February 2017 |
| Kay, J.H., J.W. Cain III, and S.G. Liley. 2018. Tradeoffs between forage and predation risk in central New Mexico. International Deer Biology Congress, Estes Park, Colorado, USA. | August 2018 |
| Theses and Dissertations | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| Kay, J.H. 2018. Top-down and bottom up influences on mule deer in central New Mexico. M.S. Thesis. Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. 186 pp. | November 2018 |