Research Funded By Whitetails Unlimited Results in Continued Publication
Two more scientific papers published from research funded in 2006.
Scientific research on wildlife populations is expensive, time consuming and difficult, but when dedicated researchers conduct solid study, the information they produce can help guide wildlife managers for years into the future.
Michigan – -(OutDoorWire.com)- Whitetails Unlimited helped fund research in Michigan in 2006, led by Dr. Tim Hiller of Michigan State University, that has now produced the second and third papers published in scientific journals.
Hiller, who is now at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is the lead author on both of the papers, which examine how white-tailed deer are distributed and survive within their habitat.
Wildlife managers need solid data for use when establishing their management plans, and as noted in one of the papers, “‘Common knowledge’ of deer biology is often “enhanced by anecdotes and accumulated lore, speculative ideas of hypotheses become transformed into a dogma that is extremely resistant to change.” Hiller’s research sets out to replace that ‘common knowledge’ with actual data.
“We’re very happy when we can assist scientists in their research on whitetails,” said WTU Executive Director Pete Gerl. “These people spend years designing and conducting this research in the field, and then it takes even more time to evaluate what they’ve discovered, and then write it and have it published. However, when they’re done everyone has solid data on which to base decisions. They do the hard work so all of us, including the deer herds, can benefit.”
The two articles are Estimation and implications of Space Use for White-Tailed Deer management in Southern Michigan, published in The Journal of Wildlife Management; and Age Specific Survival and Space Use of White-Tailed Deer in southern Michigan, published in Michigan Academician. Dr. Hiller anticipates at least two additional papers being published in the future as a result of their research.
The multi-year study that was the base for these papers was funded in part by Whitetails Unlimited, as part of WTU’s commitment to education and conservation. This is an investment that allows dedicated researchers to produce solid information that benefits game managers and regulators, and ultimately hunters in the field.
About:
Founded in 1982, Whitetails Unlimited is a national nonprofit conservation organization. Our mission is to raise funds in support of education, habitat enhancement and acquisition, and the preservation of the hunting tradition for the benefit of the white-tailed deer and other wildlife. When it comes to the whitetail and its environment, WTU’s degree of professionalism and dedication has earned us the reputation of being the nation’s premier whitetail organization.