This study was conducted to assess the impact of hunting on diets of a wapiti (Cervus elaphus) population in west-central Alberta, Canada. During special winter hunts, consumption of rough fescue (Festuca scabrella) decreased from 86.9% to 34.3%, while browsing increased. The contribution of wild rye (Elymus innovatus) and wheatgrass (Agropyron subsecundum), mostly growing in forested areas, increased 15-18%. After the hunting seasons, animals returned to the same diet they had selected previously. Browse had significantly higher crude protein contents, but lower dry matter digestibility than grasses. In spite of submaintenance crude protein contents of grasses, undisturbed wapiti appeared to prefer grazing to browsing. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.