New research out of UW’s Prugh Lab and led by Taylor Ganz looks at data from 280 white-tailed deer in northeastern Washington who were tracked for 5 years, beginning in 2017, using radio collars. This research, published in Ecological Applications, offers critical insights for wildlife management and conservation and aims to uncover the driving forces that shape predator-prey interactions in working landscapes. 

Both exposure to predators and  agricultural lands and logged areas, shape the population. The research revealed that the white-tailed deer population was impacted more by the availability of food than predation. Cougars and coyotes were the primary predators of deer, whereas bobcats and wolves killed deer less frequently. 

Predators can limit deer populations, and some forms of widespread human activity like timber harvest and agriculture are thought to be responsible for an increase in white-tailed deer populations. On agricultural land, and in areas recently harvested for timber, there was more food for the deer to forage. Unfortunately, this study reiterates what researchers have known for a long time — wildlife can be greatly impacted by roadways. Traffic collisions are a very common cause of mortality for deer of all ages. Actions to reduce these collisions are recommended for the sake of deer and humans. 

Read the article here: White-tailed deer population dynamics in a multipredator landscape shaped by humans