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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION <br />The sky was clear during the 27 January survey. Deep snow cover (2-4 feet or more) <br />was present over the entire area. Given the sky and ground conditions, visibility was rated as <br />excellent during the survey. <br />All sightings are plotted on Figure 1 and listed in Table 1. Two hundred forty-five (245) <br />elk were observed (including 15 bulls), in 26 groups. Elk density on the survey area was 7.0 <br />animals/mil. Group size ranged from single animals to a herd of 48, with an average of 9.4 <br />animals/group. Mule deer were much less numerous than elk. Forty-three (43) mule deer in <br />6 groups were recorded. In addition to big game, 4 golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), 3 coyotes <br />(Canis latrans), and lsharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) were noted during the <br />survey (Table 1). <br />• All big game observations were in mountain brush habitat. Aimost all sightings were <br />clustered either northeast of the Seneca II-W permit area, in the vicinity of Sage Creek and <br />Hillberry Mountain, or west and northwest of the permit area, along the Dry Creek drainage <br />(Figure 1). The only observation on the permit area was 1 herd of 6 elk. <br />i <br />1997 Sencea II-W ~Lne Big Game Aerial Survey Page 4 <br />