Study area.
Our study was conducted in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon centered at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range between 2016 and 2019 (Figure 2). The major habitat types in the study area include grasslands, riparian areas, open forest dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa ), and closed forest consisting of a mixture of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii ), grand fir (Abies grandis ), larch (Larix occidentalis ), ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ). Riparian areas sustain willows (Salix spp.), hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum ), and other shrub species in low quantities. Starkey Experimental Forest and Range and adjacent public lands support an assemblage of native and domestic large herbivores including mule deer, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus ), elk, and seasonally grazed domestic cattle (Bos taurus; Rowland et al. 1997). Carnivore species include black bears, coyotes, cougars, and bobcats. Gray wolves (Canis lupus ) are colonizing the area but currently occur only occasionally and unpredictably in the study area.
We used global positioning system (GPS) telemetry data from 9 cougars (representing 11 animal years), 17 coyotes (21 animal years), 11 black bears (18 animal years), 6 bobcats (7 animal years), 25 adult female mule deer (45 animal years), and 59 adult female elk (89 animal years). GPS positions were recorded every 2 or 3 hours for carnivores, every 30 minutes for elk, and every 60 or 90 minutes for deer. Details on capture and handling of carnivores, elk, and mule deer can be found in Ruprechtet al. (2021a), Wisdom et al. (1993) and Jackson et al. (2021), respectively. All animal capture and handling adhered to protocols approved by the USDA Forest Service, Starkey Experimental Forest Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC No. 92-F-0004; protocol #STKY-16-01) and followed the guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research (Sikes 2016).