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WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES THIRD EDITION: REVISED Edited by: ROBERT H. GILES, JR., PhD Associate Professor Virginia Polytechnic Institute Illustrated by: LARRY TOSCHIK Phoenix, Arizona Prepared by the Wildlife Techniques Manual Committee THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY WASHINGTON, D. C. 1971 Wildlife Management Techniques Copyright © by The Wildlife Society, Inc. 1969 Printed in the United States of America for The Wildlife Society by Edwards Brothers, Inc. 2500 South State St, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 All rights in this book are reserved. No part of the book may beused or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permissionexcept in the case ofnon-profit educational reproduction, use y agencies of the U. S. Government, or brief quotations embodied incritical articles and review. For information, address: The Wildlife Society, Inc. Suite S176, 3900Wisconsin Ave., Northwest Washington, D. C. 20016 This bookis the third in a series on wildlife techniques published by The Wildlife Society Editor, Henry S. Mosby Manual of Game Investigational Techniques (1) First Edition—May 1960 Second Printing—February 1961 Wildlife Investigational Techniques (2) Second Edition—May 1963 > Second Printing (Revised)—March 1965 Third through Sixth Printing—March 1966to September 1968 Editor, Robert H. Giles, Jr. Wildlife Management Techniques (3) June 1969 Second Printing (Revised)—January 1971 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-17250 THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY The Wildlife Society has for its major objectives the establishment of high professional standards, the encouragement ofmanagementofwildlife along sound biological lines, and the dissemination of information to accomplish these ends. The members of The Wildlife Society believe that wildlife and other natural resources have a permanent place in our culture. The Society supports programs to enhance the esthetic, recrea tional, and economic values of wildlife and seeks to insure the wise use of this natural resource as part of our living standard. These objectives, rising from unselfish motives, are directed toward the well-being of all occupants of our planet. They are carried out in a large number and variety of ways, primary among these being the pub lications of the Society, all edited by volunteers. The Journal of Wildlife Management, our 33-year old scientificquarterly, hasgrownto more than 1000 pages per annual volume. Scientific papers too lengthy for inclusion in The Journal of Wildlife Management are published in the Society's Wildlife Monograph series. Through 1968,16 Monographs havebeen pub lished on a wide variety of subjects such as: waterfowl, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, brook trout, stream ecology, and the wildebeest in Africa. This techniques manual is another attempt to attain our goals. The Society's wide and diverse professional interestsand responsibil ities are reflected in its stylized hieroglyphic emblem adopted in 1937, the Society's first year of existence. The horizontal lines of figures, from top to bottom, may be translated as: beasts, birds, fishes, and flowering plants. It is the hope of The Wildlife Society that this techniques manual will be of immense value to students and practitioners alike, and that the volunteer committee efforts represented herein will also be of use and interest to those in related disciplines. Your own comments on The Wildlife Society's efforts will be most helpful. Fred G. Evenden Executive Director June, 1969 CONTENTS Vll Preface Chapter 1 The Approach, Robert H. Giles, Jr 1 Planning Wildlife Management Investigations Chapter 2 and Projects, Thomas H. Ripley 5 Using the Literature on Wildlife Management, Chapter 3 13 Robert W. Bums, Jr Developing and Maintaining ASmall Personal Chapter 4 Reprint Library, RobertW. Bums, Jr. and 47 Henry S. Mosby Writingthe Scientific Report, Thomas G. Scott Chapter 5 53 and James S. Ayars Chapter 6 Making Observations and Records, 61 Henry S. Mosby Instrumentation, Robert H. Giles, Jr 73 Chapter 7 Using Computers inWildlife Management, Chapter 8 83 Lowell Adams Radio-Location Telemetry, Robert B. Brander Chapter 9 95 and William W. Cochran Uses of Radar in Wildlife Management, Chapter 10 105 M. T. Myres Radiosotopes and Their Use in Wildlife Research Chapter 11 109 Tony J. Peterle Reconnaissance Mapping and Map Use, Chapter 12 119 Henry S. Mosby Habitat Analysis and Evaluation, Antoon DeVos Chapter 13 135 and Henry S. Mosby Habitat Manipulation Practices,Jim Yoakum Chapter 14 173 and William P. Dasmann Procedures For Food-Habits Analysis, Chapter 15 233 Leroy J. Korschgen Post-Mortem Examinations, 1. McT. Cowan, Chapter 16 251 revised by Lars Karstad Collection and Field Preservation of Biological Chapter 17 Materials, Henry S. Mosby and /. McT. Cowan, 259 revised by Lars Karstad Chapter 18 Capturing and MarkingWild Animals, Richard D. Tabercmdi. McT. Cowan 277 Chapter 19 Use of Dogs in Wildlife Management, Fred C. Zwickel 319 Chapter 20 Criteria of Sex and Age, Richard D. Taber 325 Chapter 21 Estimating the Numbers ofAnimals in Wildlife Populations, W. Scott Overton 403 Chapter 22 Population Analysis, L. L. Eberkardt 457 Chapter 23 Identifying, Evaluating, and Controlling Wildlife Damage, Terry E, Anderson 497 Chapter 24 Population Manipulation, Robert H. Giles, Jr 521 Appendix 527 Literature Cited 549 Index 609 PREFACE Wildlife Matiagemenl Techniques is an evolu vision soon. Catalogsorexhaustivebibliographies to species, problems, or techniques are given in tionary step on a continuum that started with only a few chapters. Literature was selected for Howard M. Wight's Field and Laboratory Tech demonstrating an approach or describing tech niques in Wildlife Management in 1938.Anedition niques in detail. Questions of "how" have been of of Manual of Game Investigational Techniques primary concern in the book; questionsof "why" was the second step taken by a committee of The Wildlife Societyand author-editorHenryS. Mosby. are of first order but herein treated as of sec The third and fourth steps were an edition and ondary importance. Readers will find one major topic omitted un revision of Wildlife Investigational Techniques. der the large scope of the title. The omission is The evolutionary force was generated by Dr. man management or socialengineering. Thoughto Mosby in whose footsteps this editor follows proudly both as student and as editor, dwarfed some readers there will be negative connotations by the magnitude and strength of the previous to the terms, toothers,themanipulationofhabitat, wildlife populations, and man and their inter editions. The strength of the previous editions actions to achieve stated goals is wildlife man is explained in their lengthy Preface and Ac agement. Gilbert's (1964) treatment ofthetopic knowledgments which attest to the great support of Society members. Their support, bolstered by must suffice until wildlife managers see more clearly the man-land-game conflicts andattempt dozens more unnamed reviewers and assistants, to solve the management problem by studying the lives on in this book. techniques of education, sociology, psychology, Wildlife Management Techniques is a textbook legislation and politics as diligently as theystudy and manual for well-educated peopleworkingwith plants and animals. The human aspectofthewild game mammals and birds. The content is pur life management problem can besolved; itcannot posefully sketchy in all areas, since the objec tives are todescribemajorapproachestoproblem be left to non-wildlifers. One daythesenecessary chapters will be written-when there is more solving, suggest ways of implementing these solutions, describe and direct readers to some support and wisdom. There has been evolution in past editions; of the better techniques and tools now known, and hopefully the present edition is "fit";expectantly, indicate gaps in our knowledge. The overriding goal is to improve the management of thewildlife future editions or sub-editions will survive and reflect the creative improvements of time and resource through more rapid development and human involvement in a worthwhile task. improved use of techniques. No recommendations are made for standard Robert H. Giles, Jr., Editor and techniques; best methods are not suggested. The Chairman, Wildlife Techniques state-of-knowledge as of mid 1966-67 has been Manual Committee presented with the expectation of need for re