40 2023 Annual Report
•
Conservation
A study on pronghorns
in the Panhandle
helped determine their
movement, mortality
and habitat use.
Joint project looks at pronghorn movements
In February 2022, Game and Parks, in cooperation with the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln School of Natural Resources and University of Nebraska at Kearney, launched
a research project focused on western Nebraska pronghorn. The project goals were
to investigate annual survival, causes of mortality, habitat use and movements of
pronghorn in the Panhandle.
Between 2021 and 2022, 110 pronghorn were collared in the Box Butte East, Garden
and Banner South pronghorn management units. GPS locations were collected
every 2½ hours, totaling 2.6 million locations for the duration of the project. While
researchers will continue to look at data, project findings so far include:
•
Pronghorn survival estimates were around 65% — lower than other research
projects had found on the Great Plains during the same timeframe.
•
Hunter harvest and hemorrhagic disease were the highest causes of pronghorn
mortality. Much of western Nebraska was in a drought in 2021 and a significant
EHD event occurred in the pronghorn.
•
Pronghorn used agricultural areas in winter, spring and fall, preferring crops like
winter wheat, alfalfa and millet.
•
Pronghorn avoided roads during the fall and winter. Many of the pronghorn
collared in Box Butte and Garden counties during the winter spent their summers
in the Sandhills. Many of those traveled 30-50 miles between summer and winter
and some traveled nearly 100 miles.
