Data belonging to the article: Estimating pre-harvest density, adult sex ratio and fecundity of white-tailed deer using wildlife cameras

Adult sex ratio and fecundity (juveniles per female) are key population
parameters in sustainable wildlife management, but inferring these
requires abundance estimates of at least three age/sex classes of the
population (male and female adults and juveniles). Prior to harvest, we
used an array of 36 wildlife camera traps during 2 and 3 weeks in the
early autumn of 2016 and 2017 respectively. We recorded white-tailed deer
adult males, adult females and fawns from the pictures. Simultaneously, we
collected fecal DNA (fDNA) from 92 20mx20m plots placed in 23 clusters of
four plots between the camera traps. We identified individuals from fDNA
samples with microsatellite markers and estimated the total sex ratio and
population density using Spatial Capture Recapture (SCR). The fDNA-SCR
analysis concluded equal sex ratio in the first year and female bias in
the second year, and no difference in space use between sexes (fawns and
adults combined). Camera information was analyzed in a Spatial Capture
(SC) framework assuming an informative prior for animals’ space use,
either (1) as estimated by fDNA-SCR (same for all age/sex classes), (2) as
assumed from the literature (space use of adult males larger than adult
females and fawns), (3) by inferring adult male space use from
individually-identified males from the camera pictures. These various SC
approaches produced plausible inferences on fecundity, but also inferred
total density to be lower than the estimate provided by fDNA-SCR in one of
the study years. SC approaches where adult male and female were allowed to
differ in their space use suggested the population had a female-biased
adult sex ratio. In conclusion, SC approaches allowed estimating the
pre-harvest population parameters of interest and provided conservative
density estimates.