Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

In January 2000, the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners (Wildlife Commissioners) directed Nevada’s state game management agency, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), to secure wildlife damage management (WDM) assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services Program (WS) for the purpose of protecting a struggling population of pronghorn antelope located in northern Washoe County, Nevada. NDOW had documented, over a several-year period, that this northern Nevada antelope population had consistently demonstrated unacceptably low fawn recruitment levels. While NDOW was unsure of the cause for this consistent poor production record, the Wildlife Commissioners suspected “excessive” fawn predation to be one of the primary causes for the unacceptable recruitment levels. WS was contracted by NDOW to initiate fawn protection efforts for this population with an emphasis on coyote predation management. In collaboration with WS, NDOW mapped out a designated protection area where WDM activities would be conducted, established that WDM activities would only be conducted during the vulnerable fawning period, and set a target recruitment level for the herd which, when reached, would conclude the WDM activities. Prior to the initiation of WDM actions, WS personnel conducted several predator surveys to establish the coyote incidence level within the designated protection area. These data were to serve as a baseline indicator to help gauge the effectiveness of ongoing coyote removal efforts. While WS removed any coyote encountered within the specified protection area during the critical fawning season, removal efforts were primarily directed at older, territorial coyotes. The doe-to-fawn ratio was determined by NDOW at the end of each season, and when the ratio reached NDOW’s predetermined level of 32 fawns per 100 does, WDM activities were terminated. Additional benefits stemming from the antelope project included reduced predator pressure on other game species inhabiting the same area (such as mule deer), and collection of coyote blood samples for the monitoring of wildlife diseases such as plague.