ALPINE -

Misty Sumner proudly posed with a trophy mule deer buck on the Jobe Ranch.  Then, her co-workers untied bindings, and the buck, wearing a new radio collar, lurched to its feet and bounded back into the brush.

The procedure was repeated more than 20 times during a three-day period as part of a Sul Ross State University Wildlife Management research project.

Sumner's husband, Lane, a 1984 Sul Ross graduate, manages the Jobe Ranch, located north of Kent in Culberson County.  Misty Sumner is a regional biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is completing her master's degree from Sul Ross.

Her research includes determining the home range, assessing the health and measuring yearly antler growth of mature mule deer bucks. Global Positioning System radio collars tuned to specific frequencies last about two years. The collars enable Sumner to obtain home range sizes and movement by determining the location of each deer every five hours.

The collared bucks, ranging in age from 4.5 to 8.5 years, are hunted only by helicopters using net guns. Upon capture, they are physically restrained, blind-folded, processed, photographed and released. On the ranches that make up the study area, they are protected from hunters.

"Mule deer hunting - especially the trophy bucks - is a staple of West Texas' hunting economy," said Louis Harveson, Borderlands Research Institute director and Sul Ross professor of Natural Resource Science. "One of our studies is how to grow bigger and better deer, but at the same time balancing the nutrition, habitat and ranch management."

Presently, the BRI is managing roughly $500,000 in mule deer research grants.

Research includes Sumner's project of monitoring trophy mule deer buck movement, as well as projects studying genetics, habitat change and effectiveness of feeding programs.

Deer feeding programs definitely add protein to deer diets, but Harveson said there is concern that overfeeding can lead to overpopulation and, in turn, jeopardize habitat.

"The deer herd cannot subsist on the feed (in feeders) alone," he said. "If too many deer crowd into an area because of the feeders, they may start feeding on other plants not normally in their diet and consequently do harm to the habitat."

On neighboring Boracho Peak Ranch, graduate student Reagan Gage-Jarrell is monitoring 33 mule deer, mostly does, to study the effects of the herbicide Spike 20P on mule deer, scaled quail and other wildlife populations in the Trans-Pecos region.

"Since mule deer populations have declined at the landscape level in recent years, it is reasonable to concluded that broad-scale habitat change, especially brush encroachment, is a likely candidate for the change," said Harveson. "Reagan is collaring does for reproductive data as well."

To combat brush encroachment on natural habitat, the herbicide Spike 20P (tebuthiron) has been commonly used.

Harveson, who is the principal investigator for the project, said the research will seek to determine the effects of grassland restoration on wildlife populations.

Boracho Peak Ranch, encompassing nearly 100,000 acres, is located in the center of the Trans-Pecos. The ranch contains a number of vegetation types.

Research will determine how wildlife adapt to habitat restored through the use of herbicides, especially Spike 20P. The study will also determine deer movement between areas of land treated with Spike 20P and untreated areas.

"Research specialists with the Natural Resource Conservation Service commonly prescribe Spike as an option for controlling invasive brush species," Harveson said. "Despite the increased interest and use of Spike, few data are available regarding its effectiveness to reclaim desert grasslands and more importantly what affect Spike has on wildlife populations.

"Because of the widespread use of Spike, the economical importance of wildlife in the region, and the lack of technical information, our goal is to evaluate the effects of Spike 20P applications on populations of mule deer, scaled quail and other wildlife," he said.

Harveson noted that landowner cooperation has been a key to the on-going research.

"We have a lot of landowners who have made generous commitments to studying these resources," he said. "Our goal is to retrieve and process data to help them make good decisions in land management."

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