Flying Mule Deer

“Here comes another one” said Andy James a grad student of Sul Ross State University. He was talking about a young mule deer buck, hanging by a rope on a helicopter.

Andy was part of a team from Sul Ross State University, Borderlands Research Institute, and the Mule Deer Foundation, thirteen people in all. It was Feb 2013 and their mission over the next two days was to capture 25 young mule deer bucks to ear tag and record a variety of biological data to better understand basic mule deer ecology. The mule deer is the only big game animal on the decline in the US. The Mule Deer Foundation is very interested in the Research Institute and wants to apply funds based on scientific data.

The helicopter, donated by the ranch owner, flies low over the 135,000 acre ranch northeast of Van Horn Texas. The shooter hangs out the window with a net gun. The gun is fired by a .308 blank shell and has a cone barrel holding a 20 foot square nylon net with 8 inch holes. The net has to be packed correctly, similar to a parachute. Two net guns were kept loaded at all times. When a deer is flushed from cover, the pilot gets into position above the running buck. The shooter fires the net, which has plastic covered weights on the bottom corners causing it to open and completely cover the young buck. Then all hell breaks loose, the helicopter circles back and the shooter jumps out to restrain the deer.

The animal is kicking in a panic to get loose and must be hog tied quickly. After tied and attached to the helicopter, the shooter boards and they head to the research team, sometimes as far as 3 miles away. When they lower the animal to the ground, up to 9 people go quickly to work. They take the weight, put in a number ear tag, check teeth for age, measure the leg and chest circumference, score the antlers and collect a fecal sample. A blind fold is over the eyes to keep the animal calm while the processing takes place. Now all hell breaks loose again, when they remove the net, one holds the hind legs, one the front legs, one the antlers and another takes off the blind fold. Then they all release the deer at one time and watch it run off. 23 of the 25 bucks ran away quickly but two were mad enough to stand and fight. No animals were injured in any way and they returned to the exact spot they were captured within 24 hours.

Andy reports that one of the things they are looking for in the fecal samples is worm eggs. One of the primary problems with our declining pronghorn herd in the Trans-Pecos is the Barber pole worm. They have looked at 15/20 mule deer samples and so far no worm eggs have been found. They do not expect to find any problems in mule deer but they do continue to monitor the situation.  This was great news. Also additional animal nutrition data is gathered from the fecal samples. The ear tags are used to identify individual animals in future years, using game cameras and recapture by helicopter. Antler development can be monitored. Andy is also working to develop a formula to correlate body measurements with weight. Wouldn’t that be wonderful for hunters or wildlife managers to take a couple of measurements and know the weight of his deer?A big thank you goes out to all of the capture team and to the three members of the Mule Deer Foundation who volunteered their time and paid for motels, food and gas to help the icon of the west.

-By Russ Porter as told by Les Beasley, MDF Brownwood