Darting and GPS Collaring a White-tailed Deer

As part of my biology master's project studying Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), I am darting white-tailed deer and attaching GPS collars. As mentioned in a previous video, there is a significant amount of work that goes into this. Rather than make other darting videos extremely long and detailed, this is a stand-alone video showing the entire procedure, from proper dart placement, to telemetry tracking, to biological sampling and GPS collar deployment.
Note: All procedures are done according to a reviewed and accepted animal care protocol, with fieldwork permitted by Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. Care is taken to not adversely impact animal health and welfare, including pregnancy; early-term use of BAM II has been shown to have no adverse effects on pregnancy or fawn development. The CO2 powered Pneu-Dart X-Caliber projector is low impact and low noise, which further reduces stress on the animal and allows for careful adjustment of propulsion power to prevent injury.
A special thank you to Pneu-Dart for supplying this dart projector, darting equipment, and telemetry system, and to the McLoughlin Lab in Population Ecology for the opportunity to do such a fascinating project.
And thank you also to:
Bear Essential Wilderness Adventures
K&J Northern Fur Stretchers (Nipawin)
Eagle Firearms (Tisdale)
ConQuest Scents
Bear Essential Life Magazine
Deer tracking Magazine
And thank you for watching!
Remember to Like, Comment, and Subscribe

[@p1harleyford]

Is there somewhere we can view this data? I’ve seen gpa data for bucks but never does I’m curious on their movement patterns

[@glennchesser3501]

Thank you for taking us along. Great opportunity for those of us who would never get a chance to see the process. Felt like we right along in the field with you.

[@BackwoodsBoys]

Thanks for joining us! We're glad you enjoyed it!

[@polarman1119]

Will part of your study include the large number of animals lost to wolves? They're starting to increase in numbers everywhere.
It would be nice to open up the season and thin them out again.

[@BackwoodsBoys]

It will include that, but interestingly, what we are finding is that the high number of wolves may actually be crucial in keeping CWD in check throughout the forest. Wolves take quite a few deer, and since CWD is a density-dependent disease, it may well be that having wolves patrolling the forest is what keeps the numbers (both of animals in general and infected individuals) low enough that we don't need to introduce human measures to try and control a disease that nature can control better.

[@wayupnorth3819]

Why would we have to introduce human controls when it doesn't affect humans

[@BackwoodsBoys]

I mean human controls as in culls or other methods to try and thin the population or remove infected individuals. Not really for the purpose of human safety, as much as to try and keep the disease prevalence down in the herds. Humans keep trying to control the disease in natural populations through heavy-handed management strategies and it seems like every time we do it, we just mess something else up. So it may be best to let nature control the disease if it can, and it seems to do so through predation.

[@HARVIELL1]

97.8* F