Laserfiche WebLink
Browse plant use averages about 30% but utiliza- <br />• tion transects taken from concentration areas <br />suggest utilization in excess of 60%. The Minne- <br />sota Creek and Landsend areas show heaviest use. <br />Winter and early spring food supply appears to be <br />the major limiting factor for the population. <br />In years of severe winters, deer move down to <br />private land and browse in the fruit orchards. <br />This causes many thousands of dollars damage in <br />any given year that must be mitigated by the <br />Colorado Division of Wildlife. Many corridors <br />of pinyon-juniper stretch from the brushy hill- <br />sides far down into the orchard lands. It would <br />appear that these corridors of cover encourage <br />the deer to come down into the farm lands. <br />Dense out-of-reach browse plants in the oak brush <br />vegetative type provide an unbalanced cover:food <br />• ratio that is less than optimum habitat. Wild- <br />fire and man-caused fires probably helped to <br />maintain better interspersion in the past. The <br />lower winter ranges also have an unbalanced <br />cover:food ratio. Pinyon and juniper provide more <br />than enough cover, but domestic and wild animals <br />have depleted the grass and fortis so badly <br />needed by deer during the spring. <br />(d) Water. <br />Water available to mule deer is more than ade- <br />quate in the northern portion of the unit. However, <br />in the southwestern portion the water available is <br />severely limited. <br />• NF-WL-III-3 4/76 RWM <br />