Deer Harvest Regulations Fieldwork Updates

2020 Field Season Update

During the second field season, we modified the study design to accommodate travel restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Field crews worked with private landowners and public land managers to obtain permission for sampling at 72 sites in 4 townships of 3 counties. During and following the field season, we worked to classify an additional ~450,000 images from the summer trail-camera study (July 15 - Sept 15, 2020). 
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2019 Field Season Update

Prior to the first field season, we developed a paired comparison study design of antler point restriction (APR) and non-APR areas in the 5-County Core CWD Area. This was designed to detect changes in deer abundance and sex and age composition over 4 years (2019–2022). We completed compositional analyses of landscapes for each township in the 5-County Core CWD Area management core area and worked with MDNR biologists to identify similar townships for pairing. We generated generalized random tessellation stratified (GRTS) sample locations for camera placement to allow for randomization of camera locations while removing intractable samples (i.e., no land access). Field crews worked with private landowners and public land managers to obtain permission for sampling at 144 sites in 8 townships of 5 counties. During and following the field season, we worked to classify ~800,000 images from the summer trail-camera study (July 15–Sept 15, 2019).