COMPARISON OF DEER CENSUSING METHODS IN TROPICAL DRY FOREST

We estimated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population den sity by 3 methods (track count, pellet group count, and direct count o n transects) from July 1989-June 1991 in tropical dry forest (TDF) in Jalisco, Mexico. Deer observations varied between seasons and years, s uggesting that the nonparametric model based on the Fourier series was the most appropriate for estimating deer density using line transects in tropical habitat. Estimated density varied up to 17-fold (1.6-27.6 deer/km(2)) among methods. The transect method produced more precise results in the wet season, whereas the track count method produced mor e precise results in the dry season. The greatest disadvantage of trac k and pellet counts in TDF was lack of conversion factors to estimate population density from counts. Conversely, the main advantage of the direct count method on line transects was that no conversion factor wa s required. Each method produced similar results seasonally with respe ct to relative density. Therefore, they can be used as indices to dete ct changes in population over time.