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Elk vs deer1/29/2024 ![]() A bow and arrow can be deployed only at closer range, so a strategy which made stalking difficult was adopted then. Elk deploy differing security strategies in the open seasons for rifle and for bow-and-arrow hunting.Ī bullet can be lethal over several hundred metres, so the wapiti learned to remain hidden when rifles were being used. These were not ‘once bitten, twice shy’ reactions, but measures adopted by the deer to help them cope with perceived dangers. By doing so, they render themselves less likely to be ambushed by hunters.ĭeer also learned to use “secure areas (forest and steeper terrain), especially when close to roads”. Moving about, for example, is risky which is why the wapiti travelled less as they got older. They claim, instead, that wapiti learn from experience and modify their behaviour accordingly.Īs an elk gets older, it becomes more street-wise. The scientists, however, reject this explanation. These ‘braver’ risk-takers would tend to attract the attention of hunters, making them easier to shoot than shyer ones, whose innately secretive ways rendered them difficult to target. How should we interpret this finding? Some individuals might be more adventurous han others. “Female elk are almost invulnerable to human hunters when older than nine or ten years,” the authors claim. The study showed that, as the deer aged, they became progressively more cautious. ![]() ![]() The deer were tracked over a seven-year period, the distances they travelled, the ruggedness of the terrain visited, and the cover it offered being of particular interest to the researchers.Ībout 50% of males and 20% of females in the study area were killed by hunters. ![]() GPS radio-collars were fitted to 49 females.ĭevices in the collars cause them to drop off the animals before the batteries expire. Individuals were captured using ‘net-guns’ fired from a helicopter in Alberta and British Columbia. The Canadian researchers claim that, on the contrary, the reactions of wapiti to the threats they face is remarkably sophisticated. We tend to think that deer, and hoofed vegetarians generally, are stupid, at least compared to the creatures which prey on them. The authors, from the University of Alberta, have been studying the responses of these elk to shooting pressure. ![]()
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