James C. Pack

Influence of mast production on black bear non-hunting mortalities in West Virginia

Abstract Food availability influences movements, population dynamics, and harvest of black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Appalachian Mountains. We compared combinations of hard and soft mast indices to black bear non-hunting mortalities in West Virginia, USA, 1980–2004. Mast conditions were inversely related to non-hunting black bear mortalities. We constructed regression equations to predict non-hunting bear mortalities and used Akaikes Information Criterion (AIC) to compare fit of each model to the data. Oak (Quercus spp.; ΔAICc  =  0.000), oak + hickory (Carya spp.; ΔAICc  =  0.251), all hard mast (ΔAICc  =  6.41), and hard mast + black cherry (Prunus serotina; ΔAICc  =  7.06) were considered the best competing models for explaining non-hunting black bear mortalities. Managers may use this data to help explain and predict the importance of hard mast conditions on non-hunting black bear mortalities.

EFFECTS OF FALL HUNTING ON SURVIVAL OF MALE WILD TURKEYS IN VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA

Abstract The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and West Virginia Division of Natural Resources conducted a band-recovery study on male eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) during 1989–1996. Our main objectives were to estimate survival and band-reporting rates and to determine whether longer fall hunting seasons resulted in lower male turkey survival. Length of fall turkey hunting season varied from zero to 9 weeks at 3 study areas, while spring hunting season was relatively constant at 4 or 5 weeks. We attached reward leg bands to 473 male wild turkeys. Effects of different fall seasons were evaluated using survival and band-reporting rates. We used program MARK to construct a series of models including hunting-season structure, age (juvenile or adult), year, and period (fall or winter–summer) effects to estimate survival and band-reporting rates and to evaluate the effects of length of fall hunting on survival and band-reporting rates. Annual survival rates in our 3 study areas (range = 0.24–0.27) were lower than most studies. Survival estimates were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the winter–summer (range = 0.16–0.18) than in the fall (range = 0.58–0.62). We found little difference in band-recovery estimates between age classes in the fall, but adults had significantly higher band-recovery estimates in the winter–summer. Male wild turkey mean annual survival did not decrease as fall hunting season length increased. In contrast, band-recovery rates increased as the length of the fall season increased. If band-recovery estimates indexed hunting mortality, then hunting mortality increased as length of fall hunting season increased. Moreover, if band-recovery rates represented hunting mortality, then the constancy of survival estimates among areas with different lengths of fall hunting season, coupled with the pattern of band-recovery rates, suggest that fall hunting mortality is not additive for male wild turkeys in Virginia and West Virginia, USA.

Effects of fall hunting on wild Turkey populations in Virginia and west Virginia

The effect of fall either-sex hunting on eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations is a common concern of wildlife agencies. We examined the effect of fall either-sex hunting on survival of radiotagged female wild turkeys from 1989 to 1994 in Virginia and West Virginia. We tested the hypothesis that survival of female wild turkeys did not differ among areas closed to fall hunting, open to a 4-week fall season, or open to an. 8- or 9-week fall hunting season. Mean annual survival rates were higher in the area closed to fall hunting than in regions where fall hunting occurred (P = 0.05). Mean annual survival rates varied within years (P ≤ 0.05). Differences in annual survival rate among areas were attributed to legal hunting (P ≤ 0.01). Poaching was a major mortality factor. Juvenile, yearling, and adult hens had similar survival rates in the areas closed to fall hunting and with 4 weeks of fall hunting (P = 0.39), but survival rates of juveniles were lower (P = 0.03) than those of yearling and adult females in the area with an 8-9-week fall hunting season. Harvest rates of female turkeys averaged 4.3% in the 4-week fall hunted area and 12.3% on the 8-9-week fall hunted area. Higher harvests were achieved on the study area opened only to spring hunting than the combined fall-spring harvests on the other study areas. Total harvest was negatively associated with survival (r s =- 0.90, P = 0.04) on the 8-9-week fall hunted area and positively associated with survival (r s = 0.90, P = 0.04) in the area closed to fall hunting. Spring gobbler-only hunting is suggested for maximum growth in a wild turkey population. Guidelines are presented for fall harvest programs.

Relationship of mast production to big-game harvests in West Virginia

Abstract Food availability influences population demographics and harvest of wildlife species throughout the Appalachians. Various combinations of hard- and soft-mast indices were compared to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and black bear (Ursus americanus) statewide harvests in West Virginia, USA, 1980–2002. Hard-mast conditions had a negative relationship with total white-tailed deer (r = −0.5774, P = 0.004), archery white-tailed deer (r = −0.5979, P = 0.003), antlerless whitetailed deer (r = −0.5065, P = 0.014), wild turkey (r = −0.6193, P = 0.002), and black bear archery (r = −0.6065, P = 0.002) harvests. Hard-mast conditions had a positive relationship with black bear gun harvests (r = 0.6975, P ≤ 0.001). Negative nonsignificant (P > 0.05) relationships were measured between mast conditions and buck white-tailed deer and muzzleloader white-tailed deer harvests. Hard mast + black cherry (Prunus serotina) had the strongest negative relationship with wild turkey (r = −0.6497, P ≤ 0.001) harvest, whereas oak (Quercus spp.) had the greatest negative relationship with total white-tailed deer (r = −0.6238, P = 0.002), archery white-tailed deer (r = −0.6133, P = 0.002), and antlerless whitetailed deer (r = −0.5648, P = 0.005) harvests. Total hard mast had the greatest positive relationship with black bear gun (r = 0.6975, P ≤ 0.001) and greatest negative relationship with black bear archery (r = −0.6065, P = 0.002) harvests. Soft-mast conditions did not relate to harvest of any big-game species (P > 0.05). Our results supply wildlife biologists with data that may be used in setting seasons or predicting harvests for the public.

An eastern wild Turkey population dynamics model for Virginia and West Virginia

Hunting can have potentially significant impacts on wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations. We developed a 2-sex Leslie-type matrix model that predicts wild turkey population size for spring-summer and fall-winter periods to understand the effects of hunting on the dynamics of wild turkey populations in Virginia and West Virginia. A base model incorporates parameters derived from a large-scale radiotelemetry study (n = 1,543 hens radio-tagged) conducted over areas with different fall hunting seasons in Virginia and West Virginia from 1989 to 1994. These data made it possible to evaluate the effects of season length, season timing, and 1- versus 2-sex kills on population growth and future harvests. A sensitivity analysis confirmed that fall hunting has the strongest negative effect on the population growth rate. For the range of parameters explored, population growth rate appeared to decrease linearly with increases in fall hunting. Also, the proportion of males in the population was more sensitive to fall rather than spring hunting. These results were invariant to a wide variety of different model calibrations.

Reproduction of Eastern Wild Turkeys in Virginia and West Virginia

Knowledge of reproductive parameters and assessment of the relative importance of factors affecting reproductive success are essential for effective management of eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris). We determined reproductive parameters of 599 radiomarked hens (293 for >1 yr), and the effects of age, year, region, condition (winter weight), incubation chronology (periods), land-ownership, and weather on their reproductive success in 3 Appalachian Mountain regions of Virginia and West Virginia. Average first nest incubation initiation was May 5 ± 0.6 days (x ± SE, n = 629). Production rate (poults alive 4 weeks post batch/female alive 1 Apr) averaged 1.46 ± 0.09 (n = 863). Nesting rates were lower than studies in other regions and may be limiting reproduction. Production rates increased with age (juv: 0.47 ± 0.14, 2+: 1.40 ± 0.14, 3+ 2.55 ± 0.25), but did not differ among regions, years, or weight classes of winter-trapped juvenile or adult hens. Reproduction was evaluated by quintiles (periods) of the first incubation dates by year. Hens that began incubation in the second or third periods had higher (>67%) incubation completion rates than other periods (≤50%), but potential production rates (poults alive 4 weeks post hatch/female completing incubation) were not different among incubation periods. Potential production rates were higher on private lands (3.93 ± 0.30) than public lands (2.67 ± 0.43). Nest incubation dates in Virginia were correlated with mean March temperatures (p = -0.53) and snow depth (p = 0.52). Managers should cautiously implement or increase fall either-sex hunting seasons in populations with survival and production rates similar to those we studied. Older hens play a critical role in reproductive success in the Appalachians. In areas with fall either-sex hunting, season timing and length that reduce adult vulnerability may lessen hunting impacts on reproduction and population growth.

INFLUENCE OF FORESTLAND CHARACTERISTICS ON SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF HUNTERS

To determine the effects of 17 access, cover, relief, and game variables, we interviewed hunters as they left a 9,500-ha area of national forest and private land in West Virginia. Hunters were classed as hunting for deer (Odocoileus virginianus), turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), or squirrels (Sciurus carolinen- sis, S. niger). The area was divided into 166 blocks of 64.8 ha or less, and each block was rated on the 17 variables. The number of hunters that visited a block decreased with distance from a trail, camping or parking site, road, or wildlife clearing, and with decreases in length of public land boundary and amount of game seen. In regressions of data from 3 years, all variables accounted for 33 to 44 percent of the variation in visits to the blocks and the 6 most important variables accounted for 26 to 30 percent. These were trails (all hunters), camping or parking sites (deer and turkey), wildlife clearings (turkey), pub- lic boundary, roads, and game seen (squirrel hunters). Proximity of trails accounted for much more vari- ation in hunter visits than cover type did, but game distribution related more to cover type than to trails. Hunter-game contact could be increased least expensively by trail management. The findings suggest limits of the effectiveness of management alternatives, and that hunters were influenced by factors other than site characteristics and game-seeking efficiency.

COMPARISON OF SEVEN FOREST TYPES FOR GAME IN WEST VIRGINIA

Forest type was used as a basis for classifying observations of turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) on an 8,100-ha study area. For three years, sightings of game were recorded in each April and November, deer-pellet groups were counted in each April, and leaf nests were counted in each November; then, data for the three years were pooled. The sightings of turkeys, deer, and grouse differed between spring and fall. However, we pooled the spring and fall counts to illustrate use of such data in habitat management. Among seven forest types, all game counts differed from counts that would be expected if locations of game or sign were independent of forest type. Counts for each game species in each forest type were converted to ratios, and comparisons were made directly between all pairs of forest types for any species, and all species/type combinations. Use of the ratios is demonstrated in a hypothetical management analysis. Such comparisons can help define management alternatives and resolve trade-offs among them. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 39(4):762-768 This paper reports on the relative use of seven forest types by turkeys, gray squirrels, white-tailed deer, and ruffed grouse. We show how measures of game occurrence can be converted to ratings and used to compare forest types for different wildlife species. The methods used may provide guidance for preparing economic analyses or for resolving multiple-use conflicts. Timber management commonly provides the most practical means for managing habitat of forest wildlife. Shaw (1970:272) asserted that over 90 percent of the vegeta- tive manipulations needed for forest wild- life can be achieved through well-planned timber programs.