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• Page 18 <br />fawns, both on and off the permit area, was similar to previous years. <br />'dith the light winter currently being experienced the deer are <br />expected to start rebounding from the high mortality of the previous <br />winter. If the does winter well it is expected that the pattern of use of <br />the Moffat area for fawn rearing exhibited in previous years will continue. <br />As opposed to the deer which are found primarily on the north end of <br />the permit area, elk are found almost exclusively on the southern end of <br />the permit area in and aroun3 the large aspen grove that has remained <br />intact throughout the mining operations, (TdN, R85'~, iJ 1/8 Sec. 19: T4N, <br />R851•1, SE 1/4, SF 1/4 Sec. 13, E 1/4 Sec. 24). As was noted in the permit <br />application, this aspen stand and adjacent reclaimed areas are used by <br />approximately 75-100 cows annually for calving and summer rearing <br />activities. No elk calving has been observed in the Moffat area or in the <br />aspen areas immediately to the east of the Moffat area. <br />Elk use at the southern end of the property (Center Ridge) has <br />continued to remain high throughout the course of the monitoring program. <br />As in the past, co*.a:calf ratios in 1984 :vere somewhat higher within this <br />area (100:43) when compared to all surrounding areas (100:40). <br />Observations by biologists from the Colorado Yampa roa1 Company (CYCC) show <br />approximately the same although higher ratios (100:51) on mine properties <br />to (100:48) off mine properties. The higher ratios observed by the CYCC <br />biologists are attributed to the use of a helicopter for count vs. fixed <br />wing counts by P&M's biolo.gist. It should be noted that elk did not <br />experience the high winter mortality that deer incurred during the winter <br />of 1983-84. Thus, total numbers of animals observed were not appreciably <br />different from previous years. The high use of mine sites for calving has <br />