Sika GPS Tracking Project in the Kaweka Forest Park
30 Deer (20 sika hinds and 10 sika stags) have been captured using net guns, fitted with transmitters mounted on neck collars, and will be monitored until May 2012 when collars are programmed to drop off. The spatial data will be analysed to measure home range sizes of hinds and local and long-distance movements by stags. We will overlay the satellite data on land cover maps to learn what habitats are used and avoided by sika.
Information will be analysed and shared with the supporters of the project, recreational hunters and any other interested parties.
Purpose
To use GPS/VHF/satellite tracking collars to determine how time of day, weather, seasonality, population density, hunting pressure, sex, age and breeding cycles influence habitat use, dispersal and home ranges of sika deer in the Kaweka Forest Park. This information will promote more efficient herd management by the Department of Conservation and recreational hunters.