Grovenburg, T. W., J. A. Jenks, R. W. Klaver, K. L. Monteith, D. W. Galster, R. J. Schauer, W. W. Morlock, and J. A. Delger. 2008. Factors effecting road mortality of white-tailed deer in eastern South Dakota. Human-Wildlife Conflicts 2(1):48-59.
Abstract
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) mortalities (n = 4,433) caused by collisions with automobiles during 2003 were modeled in 35 counties in eastern South Dakota. Seventeen independent variables and 5 independent variable interactions were evaluated to explain deer mortalities. A negative binomial regression model (Ln Y = 1.25 – 0.12 [percentage tree coverage] + 0.0002 [county area] + 5.39 [county hunter success rate] + 0.0023 [vehicle proxy 96–104 km/hr roads], model deviance = 33.43, χ2 = 27.53, df = 27) was chosen using a combination of a priori model selection and AICc. Management options include use of the model to predict road mortalities and to increase the number of hunting licenses, which could result in fewer DVCs.