Jason Raverty
Syllabus
Wildlife Management & Recreation I &II
(4)Major Test & Quiz/Grades:
*Seven Regions of Texas Test & 3 random quizzes(Open
notes)
*Native Animals of Texas Test & 1 random quiz(Open
Notes)
*Texas State Parks, Historical Parks & Wildlife
Management Areas Test(Open Notes)
*Animal Presentation Project
(20) Daily Grades
* 7 grades on each of the 7 regions of Texas
* 2 grades on Texas Parks & Wildlife Management Areas
* 2 native animals
*1 Texas Parks & Wildlife Department web page scavenger
hunt
*5 Video grades on various topics involving wildlife life and
ecosystems
*
Wildlife Management Objectives, and Methods
1. Learning Objectives
1. Know the objectives of wildlife management
2. Know the two basic types of values of wildlife
3. Know who owns wildlife
4. Know the four basic management tools; monitoring, research,
active management, and regulation.
5. Know the differences between basic and applied research
6. Know some management techniques
7. Understand the relative affect of habitat destruction versus direct
mortality on wildlife.
8. Understand the relative value of habitat to maintaining a
population
2. Wildlife Management:
1. The monitoring and maintenance of various wildlife species to
fulfill population management objectives .
2. The science of managing wildlife and their habitat for the benefit
of entire biota (including man).
3. Objectives of Wildlife Management
1. Provide a Huntable Surplus
2. Preservation and maintenance of wildlife populations (for their
own benefit)
1. Game Species
2. Nongame species
3. Endangered Species; restore populations
3. Provide consumptive and non-consumptive recreational opportunities
1. Hunting
2. Fishing
3. Birdwatching
4. Bird feeding
5. Nature study
4. Values of Wildlife
1. Consumptive Values: values associated with removing animals
from the wild.
1. Hunting and fishing
2. Collecting
3. Commercial Values (Sale of meat or fish, collection of wildlife or
parts for sale to collectors,
hobbyis, manufacturing,
or zoos)
2. Non-Consumptive Values: Values that do not result in the taking of
wildlife from the wild.
1. Intrinsic Values of Wildlife
2. Human recreational values
(1) Birdwatching
(2) Nature study
(3) Overuse may result in impacts to wildlife populations
5. Who Owns Wildlife?
1. Wildlife do not recognize property or political boundaries
2. In old world wildlife belonged to the landowner;
1. William the Conqueror claimed all wildlife
2. Nobles made wildlife preserves for their own use, had game
rangers to keep peasants from killing
his deer and rabbits.
3. To the public, poachers were heroes
4. 1215 Magna Carta; Nobles regulate game
3. In the United States wildlife belongs to the state
1. Although some federal laws regulate wildlife, and some
lands are owned by the federal
government,
the state government has management authority over wildlife.
2. Habitat is owned by USFS, BLM, ASLD, Private
landowners, you and me.
3. Individuals cannot own wildlife or control access except
through trespass laws or habitat
management,
or under the authority of the regulating agency.
6. How is Wildlife Managed?
1. Monitoring: Fish and wildlife numbers are monitored to:
1. What species are present?
2. How many animals are there?
3. Is the population increasing or decreasing?
4. How is the population structure changing? (Buck : Doe : Fawn
ratios etc.)
5. Survey Methods
(1) Direct Count: Total count of all organisms within a given
area. Very expensive and often not
possible.
(1) Ex: Counting all saguaros on a hill side. Do-able.
(2) Ex: US Census
(2) Sample Census: Counting a subset of the population and
extrapolating population estimates.
Less costly, less
accurate.
(3) Index: Indirect estimation of population size, density, or
change over time. Cheapest method,
often least
accurate information.
(1) Count coyote scats along road and compare to table
of scats vs coyote numbers, or compare
with other
areas or years.
(2) Hunter success; assumes that if more animals,
hunters take more of them.
(3) Buck:Doe:Fawn ratios; Shows trends in population;
increases or decreases.
(4) Pellet Group Counts
2. Research: Answering questions about fish and wildlife for managers.
1. Two general types of research:
(1) Basic Research: Research into the general processes of life;
research that does not have a
specific proximate
application.
(2) Applied Research: Research that has a specific useful
application to the management of wildlife.
2. Typical Wildlife Research Questions:
(1) What is the diet of an animal?
(2) What are the habitat requirements of an animal?
(3) What are the limiting factors for an animal?
(4) What are the impacts of grazing on desert tortoise?
(5) How does trophy hunting affect antler growth in deer
populations.
(6) Where do rare forest bats roost?
(7) What kind of mortality affects condors in the wild?
3. Active Management
1. Regulating wildlife populations with hunting as primary tool.
2. Reintroduction of native species (endangered species)
(1) Mexican Wolves
(2) California Condor
(3) Black footed ferret
3. Stocking of exotic species (non-native)
(1) Rainbow Trout
(2) Walleye
(3) Arabian Oryx
(4) Pheasants
4. Rehabilitation of injured wildlife.
5. Maintenance of threatened wildlife species in captivity (zoos,
captive breeding)
6. Restoration of habitat; Examples:
(1) Stream renovation for Apache Trout or other native fish.
(2) Wildlife water developments
(3) Blading of junipers.
(4) Modification of habitat for wildlife purposes with timber
harvest as the tool.
(5) Controlled burns.
(6) Nest boxes.
(7) Bat boxes.
7. Trapping of Brown-headed cowbird.
8. Review and modification of land management actions.
(1) Highway construction right-of-ways.
4. Regulation
1. Regulating man=s impacts on wildlife
(1) Based on a philosophy of Afair chase@
(2) Hunting Seasons (time of year or day animals can be
killed)
(3) Bag Limit (how many can be killed in one day)
(4) Method (weapon type, magazine capacity, gauge, caliber,
bow or gun, spotlight or daylight only)
(5) Wildlife welfare (don=t camp within 1/4 mile of a
waterhole, don=t disturb nests)
(6) Live wildlife regulations
(1) Dangerous species
(2) Environmental hazards of releasing non-native
wildlife into the wild .
7. Habitat loss versus direct mortality; which does the most damage to a
population?
1. Hunting: with most game species impacts to population are
limited by:
1. Hunting permits are based on surveys of deer estimated to
be present, and are on the conservative
side.
2. Generally, only males are taken.
3. The remaining males should be enough to breed all females.
2. Poaching: would increase the number of deer killed to a level that
would result in a reduction in deer
permits or the decline in the
deer population.
3. Habitat:
1. Normal mortality:
(1) One square mile of habitat may support 15 deer; 5
fawns, 6 does, 4 bucks.
(2) As a result of regulated hunting only 1 buck would be
taken.
(3) Lion predation would be expected to take 2 animals.
(4) Other mortality would be expected to take 2 animals.
(5) This would maintain a stable deer population (five
animals killed per year would balance
out 5 fawns
being born in a year)
2. If this square mile of land was cleared for a mine:
(1) 15 deer would no longer have a home.
(2) If they were displaced to adjacent habitat, assuming
deer there were at carrying capacity,
deer
reproduction would decline resulting in a net loss of 15 deer on average.
(3) Thus there would be a net reduction of 15 deer
present at any one time and a loss over time
of 5 deer
per year; over 20 years this equates to a loss of 100 deer.
(4) During that same 20 years, hunters would have
legally taken 20 deer.
(5) Lions would have taken 40 deer.
(6) Other mortality would have taken 40 deer.
8. Hunting and Fishing
1. Hunting and Fishing Culture
1. Cultural Origins of the American Wildlife Ethic
(1) Native Americans hunted as almost a sole source of
meat.
(2) Early European settlers hunted to supplement
domestic animals as a source of meat.
(3) Into this century rural farm families hunted to
supplement meat.
(4) Currently, 70 % of American population is urban,
hunters hunt mostly for recreation, not
for meat.
(5) Numbers of hunters today require that take by
hunting be limited by regulations to prevent
over
exploitation.
(6) Most regulations derived from European (English)
conservation ethics.
2. Types of hunting and fishing
(1) Small Game
(1) Upland Game Bird
(2) Waterfowl
(3) Small game mammals (rabbits and squirrels)
(2) Big Game
(1) Deer, elk, bison, bighorn sheep, javelina, turkey
(2) Trophy
(3) Meat
(3) Fur
(4) Predators
(1) Depredation
(2) Varmint calling
2. Setting permit number based on:
1. Estimated numbers of game animals.
2. Target harvest based on management goals (let population
grow, or control growth; minimum
buck : doe ration of
1:4.
3. Percentage of hunters that are issued a permit that will not go
hunting (20%).
4. Estimated success rate for hunters (27%).
5. Thus, more permits are sold than deer will be harvested.
9. Review Questions
What are the two basic values associated with wildlife based on
whether they are taken (alive or dead)
from the wild or
not?
Who has management authority over wildlife?
What are the three basic objectives of wildlife management?
What is the difference between a direct count versus a sample
census?
Name a method that gives an index (indirect estimation) of wildlife
numbers.
What is the difference between basic and applied research?
What are four things that are done to actively manage wildlife?
Name three general types of regulations that are used to limit take
of wildlife by hunters. (Ex.: bag
limits)
Which is generally more damaging to wildlife populations; hunting
or habitat destruction?
Name three factors that are used to set permit numbers for deer.