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4-45 <br />• <br />• <br />• <br />sagebrush ecotone, would be considered indicative of very <br />heavy use by deer if these pellet accumulations occurred <br />within, for example, a normal six-month winter period. <br />The data presented, therefore, tend to exaggerate deer <br />use of this habitat, since, as stated above, many of the <br />pellet-groups were of uncertain age. Also, this habitat <br />is a thin ecotone, or edge, between the pinyon-juniper <br />and the bottomland sagebrush. Such edges as these between <br />larger, more homogeneous vegetations types, typically tend <br />to concentrate wildlife. <br />Winter track counts were conducted in January, 1976, fol- <br />lowing a snow storm. Approximately 15CM (6 inches) of <br />snow had fallen the two previous nights, with the night <br />preceding the counts being relatively mild and clear. These <br />conditions are optimal for conducting track counts since <br />deer are active after a storm and all tracks observed in <br />each sample area represent deer activity that occurred <br />over an ecual time period. Results of deer track counts <br />(Table 4.6-2) are basically similar to those of the pellet- <br />group counts. The habitat showing the highest deer use <br />was again the ecotone between the pinyon-juniper woodland <br />and the bottomland sagebrush. Unstructured observations <br />of tracks in this area showed t`at deer were bedding with- <br />in the pinyon-juniper and moving out into the big sagebrush <br />to feed. However, some feeding, was evident within the <br />pinyon-juniper as well. <br />