A Case for Standardized Ungulate Surveys and Data Management in the Western United States

In 2005 IAFWA joined with the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), United States Geological Survey Cooperative Research Units Program, Nevada Department of Wildlife, and the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) Mule Deer Working Group to organize an Ungulate Survey and Data Management Workshop. All these states use aerial and ground surveys to assess mule deer and elk population characteristics, but there are notable differences among agencies in the timing and frequency of surveys, the formal structure of survey methods, the use of various harvest strategies to achieve management goals, the temporal revision of harvest recommendations on the basis of survey results, and the inferential power of techniques implemented for data analysis.